


Love at first bar fight

by That_is_right



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Origin Story, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Play, Anal Sex, Backstory, Blindness, Blow Jobs, Butt Plugs, Cats, Dirty Talk, Explicit Sexual Content, Family Issues, Finger Sucking, First Meetings, Fluff and Smut, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light Dom/sub, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mad Burnish (Promare), Marriage, Minor Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos, Minor Original Character(s), Near Death Experiences, Needles, Origin Story, Penis In Vagina Sex, Pets, Post-Canon, Praise Kink, Pre-Canon, Scars, Snakes, Squirting, Tattoos, Time Skips, Top Meis, Trans Gueira (Promare), Trans Male Character, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Weddings, afab language, bottom Gueira, cis Meis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:07:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 54,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25329037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/That_is_right/pseuds/That_is_right
Summary: Meis meets Gueira in a bar in Miami.This is the story of how Meis falls in love (which only takes a few minutes), and then everything that comes after.
Relationships: Gueira/Meis (Promare), Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 63
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There be some important notes here:
> 
> 1\. I am assuming Promare happens in America. I'm not from America — I had to spend a bunch of time on Google Maps and Wikipedia just figuring stuff out. If it's not super accurate, I'm sorry, I tried my best.  
> 2\. I'm writing Meis as being almost completely blind in his right eye. I'm not blind, and I've tried my best not to say/write anything offensive, but please tell me if I slip up!  
> 3\. I'm also writing Gueira as a trans man. There will be explicit sexy times, and I like to use AFAB language (clit/cunt/etc.) because I'm trans masc and it's what I vibe with.  
> 4\. Time kind of jumps and skips in this fic. It's linear, but I skip to focus on the important stuff. I'm also assuming Meis and Gueira formed Mad Burnish and the group only exists for a few years before the events of the movie.  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you accept rides into the great unknown from every random Burnish you come across?” Meis asks, half curious, half amused. 
> 
> Gueira winks. “Only the cute ones.” 

When Meis met Gueira for the first time, it wasn’t love at first sight, but it was pretty damn close. Gueira likes to say that it was love at first bar fight. According to him, since the phrases rhyme, they’re basically the same thing. 

“You know that’s not how rhyming works, right?”

“Yes, _Meis_ , I know that rhymes and synonyms are different things. Look, I even know what a synonym is!” 

“Just making sure.” 

And as much as Meis hates how trashy ‘love at first bar fight’ makes them sound, Gueira is, technically, correct. 

Meis had only been Burnish for about a month before they met. Until then, he’d had a pretty rough upbringing. Meis grew up in Texas in a very conservative family. He was a lonely kid, and was an even lonelier teenager after the incident that saw him nearly lose his eye when he was fifteen. Making friends as a teenager is hard enough as it is, but it’s definitely made harder when half of your face is covered by a scar. 

To make matters worse, Meis had spent most of his life in the closet. He had known that he was gay from a very young age, and he grew up listening to his father’s less than accepting views of the queer community. Rather than put another target on his back, Meis kept his sexuality to himself. So, after years of being forced to stay in the closet, plus struggling with loneliness and the loss of his eye, it’s no wonder that Meis’ frustration with the world slowly morphed into an ever-present anger. At times, it felt like there was a fire burning within him. And then, one day, the fire was burning outside of him too.

The actual moment that Meis’ powers first emerged wasn’t particularly exciting. He had been out wandering through one of his family’s paddocks, fantasising about getting on the road and never looking back. As a teenager, Meis thought a lot about stealing his dad’s motorbike and riding until he ran out of gas, following the horizon until he found something better for himself. 

He was too wrapped up in this fantasy to notice the slight dip in the ground in front of him. He misjudged his next step and then faceplanted right into the dirt. 

Something snapped. He was sick of his stupid eye and his stupid scar. He was sick of dropping things and tripping. He was sick of being treated like there was something wrong with him. He was sick of people being afraid of him. He was sick of being forced to hide who he was. He was sick of it _all_. 

And then he was on fire. And Meis knew exactly what that meant. 

If people treated him badly before, it would be nothing compared to how they’d treat him _now_. Despite supposedly being in a time of peace, the general population was still terrified of the Burnish. There were laws in place to stop discrimination, but everyone knew that they were never really enforced. It was hard enough finding people who tolerated the Burnish, let alone those who would go out of their way to protect them. 

Meis watched his new flames burn around him, and he knew that his hopes for a normal life were gone. He would never be accepted like this. He would spend the rest of his life as more of an outcast than he already was. 

And that made Meis _furious_. 

His flames roared around him, fuelled by his rage. They left a charred, burnt landscape in their wake, and Meis drank in the feeling of power they gave him. He had never felt anything like this before. 

The old Meis was powerless. The old Meis hadn’t been able to protect himself, and he would have his eye and his scar as a permanent reminder of that fact. But, now, Meis was filled with a raw, dangerous power that would never leave him vulnerable ever again. Yes, he was Burnish, and he would never have a "normal" life, but that didn’t matter anymore. Not when he could incinerate anyone or anything that got in his way. 

Meis thought back to his dreams of getting up and leaving. He thought of chasing the setting sun across the desert, of following the winding road through the mountains, of being free and never having to answer to anyone. Before he knew what was happening, his flames converged in front of him and then, right before his eyes, became solid and formed a motorbike. It was nothing like anything Meis had ever seen. His dad’s bike was big and bulky, and it was a nightmare to control once you got up to a decent speed. This bike was definitely bigger, but the design was much sleeker. It looked just as dangerous as Meis felt. 

Meis climbed on without a second thought and took off. This bike was freedom like he had never experienced before. He didn’t even have to move to make it obey him, he just had to think about what he wanted it to do, and it went. His flames powered it, pushing it to go faster and faster, until the countryside was a blur on either side of him. 

Meis didn’t stop to say goodbye. His family would probably guess what happened to him. Or, they’d assume he picked a fight with a Burnish and came off second best. Either way, they wouldn’t care that he was gone. If they knew he was Burnish, they’d be happy to see him gone. 

Meis kept riding and never looked back. 

~...~

He ends up in Florida, of all places. It’s not as though Meis has a specific destination in mind. He doesn’t have any family outside of Texas, and no one else will want him around. The non-Burnish won’t want anything to do with him, and the Burnish hiding amongst them probably won’t, either. 

It isn’t uncommon to hear about Burnish hiding in plain sight for years at a time. If you can keep your fire repressed, you stand a chance at living a normal life. After all, the only thing that sets the Burnish apart is their tendency to explode into flame. Without their flames, they’re just normal people. The thought of simply pretending not to be Burnish sticks with Meis for that first month after his powers emerge. After all, he’d already spent nearly his entire life pretending not to be gay. How much more difficult could it be to repress another crucial part of his identity? 

It’s not a particularly appealing idea. Meis can _hear_ the cries of his flames, urging him to burn hotter, burn brighter, burn stronger. He doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life pushing them down. Even if he could do it, Meis doesn’t doubt that trying would eventually drive him mad. And that’s if it even worked at all. 

There’s a reason that everyone knows that the Burnish sometimes try to hide out amongst the rest of society. The reason is simple; they aren’t successful. It’s impossible to keep the flames down forever. It’s a secret with a time limit, and you never know when that time will run out. For the Burnish, burning is like breathing. Anyone can hold their breath for a little while, but eventually, you’ll find yourself gasping for air. The flames can’t be held down forever. 

So, hiding isn’t an option, even if that means Meis will have to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. And Meis does plenty of that in the first month of his journey. His scar makes him stand out, so it’s hard to keep a low profile. He withdrew all of his savings before he left Dallas, but his cash is going to run out eventually. He knows that he’s going to have to start resorting to theft, and with a face like his, he’s going to be easy to track. If anyone finds out that he’s Burnish too, Meis knows that law enforcement will be even more determined to catch him. 

In a way, having no family outside of Texas is useful. Having no plan means that Meis free to do absolutely anything he wants, free to go absolutely anywhere. As an added bonus, it's hard to anticipate the movement of someone who isn’t thinking any further ahead than where they’re going to sleep tonight. 

Eventually, Meis decides that he wants to go south. This is the first time that he’s ever been outside of Texas, and south seems as good a direction to go as any. He reaches the top of Florida and figures it could be a cool place to explore until he gets bored of it. Who knows, maybe he’ll wrestle an alligator and get another scar for himself. 

The possibilities are endless. 

~...~

Meis meets Gueira in a bar in Miami. 

The first thing that Meis notices is the back of a man sitting hunched over the bar. His bold red hair is bright, almost to the point of being obnoxious. It’s messy, too, but Meis kind of likes it. It’s just the sort of thing Meis’ father would have disapproved of, and so it's just the sort of thing that Meis appreciates. 

The longer he spends taking in the sight of this man, the more Meis realises that he’s also giving off an incredibly strong Burnish signal. It’s rare that Meis can tell someone is Burnish just from looking at them, so this guy must be crazy powerful. Meis, somewhat impulsively, decides that he wants to talk to this guy. There’s just _something_ about him that draws Meis in, and Meis will kick himself if he doesn’t at least try to figure out what it is. Besides, Meis is flame-proof. Even if this guy decides to try incinerating him, Meis will be fine. He makes his way up to the bar. 

Typically, Meis makes a habit of putting himself to the right of people. His field of view on his left side is much better, and it’s easier to keep them in sight without having to turn his whole body. Although Meis will admit, he’s a lot less worried about being partially blind now that he’s Burnish. Before, he was terrified of not being able to see people. If he couldn’t see them, he couldn’t anticipate their next move, and he had gotten into trouble more times than he cares to count like that. 

Now, protecting himself is almost easier than breathing. His flames whisper to him, telling him that they want to burn, but Meis has learnt they can tell him so much more than that. When he’s in danger, they hiss warnings to him. It’s a bit like having a guard dog, if guard dogs could telepathically communicate with their owners and were capable of destroying an entire city block with a single thought.

Besides, his limited sight isn’t actually that much of an issue to him. The real problem lies with his scar. Meis doesn’t like to describe himself as self-conscious, but that is, more or less, his issue. People don’t tend to react well to the sight of the scar, and Meis is really tired of watching people freak out and then subtly try to get a closer look. It’s just easier if he can keep to the right of people. That way he can keep his hair over his scar while also keeping them in his line of sight. 

Unfortunately for Meis, his mystery man has managed to sit at the very end of the bar, so the only seat available is to his left. Meis is just too curious to let a little awkwardness get in his way, so he drops into the seat on the man’s left and twists around to make eye contact. He really hopes this guy doesn’t think Meis is trying to invade his personal space. He isn’t trying to be a complete creep. 

The man looks at him and narrows his eyes in suspicion. They take each other in for a moment, and then the redhead smirks. 

“Burnish, huh?” he asks. 

Meis nods. “Yeah. It’s only been about a month.” 

“No shit? Same here!” the man says brightly. “I’m Gueira, by the way.” 

“Meis.” 

“You want a drink?” Gueira offers. 

“Sure.”

“What’s your poison?”

Meis thinks for a moment. “Surprise me.” 

Gueira hums, looking Meis up and down. “You look like a big scary cowboy, but I think you might like a little colour in your life.” 

Gueira waves at the bartender who finishes polishing a glass before making his way over. 

“What d’you want?” 

“Can we get a couple of Tequila Sunrises over here?” Gueira asks. “With the little umbrellas?” 

The bartender grunts and starts mixing their drinks. It only takes about a minute for him to put the finished products down onto the countertop. Meis has to agree; they're definitely colourful. The liquid in the bottom of the glass is vibrant red, and it slowly blends into a bright yellow at the top. They’ve each got a couple of red cherries, a slice of orange, and, just as Gueira requested, a little umbrella. 

“You got a thing for obnoxious colours, huh?” Meis asks, taking a sip. He narrowly misses taking out his good eye with the umbrella. He desperately hopes Gueira didn’t see that. 

“It’s bright, it’s bold, and it’s delicious. A bit like me.” 

Meis snorts. “You’re ridiculous.” 

“And yet you're still here,” Gueira points out. “I can’t be that bad.” 

Meis rolls his eyes at that. “You keep telling yourself that, Romeo.”

It’s at that point that everything turns to shit. 

“We don’t take kindly to your kind around here,” someone says from behind them. 

Gueira curses quietly, and they both spin around on their stools. Three beefy men are sitting at a table nearby, all staring coldly at them. 

“Oh yeah, and what exactly do you mean by that?” Gueira taunts. 

“Don’t play dumb, we all know you’re a couple of queers!”

Gueira and Meis exchange a look of confusion and then burst out laughing. Meis had assumed that these guys somehow knew they were Burnish. In the grand scheme of things, being gay is the least of their worries. It’s almost comical that _this_ is what the men are angry about. 

“Are you laughin’ at us?” the shortest man asks, getting to his feet. 

“Uh, yeah, I thought that was pretty obvious,” Meis says, and Gueira snorts from beside him. 

“Trust me; you guys really don’t want to mess with us,” Gueira adds. 

The other two men stand, and then they all start coming towards the bar. 

“I really do think you should be more worried about picking a fight with us,” Gueira continues. “We are outta your league.” 

All three of the men laugh. 

“Like we’re gonna be scared of a couple of skinny queers.” 

It all falls apart very quickly from there. Meis doesn’t notice the guy coming up on his right until Gueira is yanking him out of the way. Unfortunately for Gueira, he’s too busy steadying Meis and doesn’t get out of the way of the punch himself. The man’s fist connects with Gueira’s face, and he goes down like a sack of bricks. 

Meis stares in disbelief as Gueira hits the floor. Meis has known this man for all of five minutes, and he’s literally just taken a punch for him. No one has ever done anything like that for Meis before. _No one_. 

Meis is stunned. Too stunned to think that, perhaps, it might not be a good idea to unleash his fury inside a bar with what looks like a lot of wooden furniture. His flames explode out of him without a second thought, and the darker part of Meis enjoys the men’s shouts of pain as they scramble to get out of the way. 

“They’re fucking Burnish! Get the fuck out!” 

It barely takes a few seconds for everyone to clear out. Meis holds a hand out to Gueira and pulls him back to his feet. His nose is bleeding slightly, and Gueira wipes the blood away with his sleeve. With their accelerated healing, his nose has probably already fixed itself. 

“Fuck, well, we better get out of here. I am not in the mood to be turned into a human popsicle. You okay?” Gueira asks. 

Meis lets out a disbelieving laugh. Gueira just got fucking decked, and here he is asking _Meis_ if he’s okay. 

Meis will later pinpoint this as the exact moment that he fell in love with Gueira. 

“Of course I’m fine, I’m not the one that got punched in the face!”

Gueira shrugs. “It’ll be fine; we heal quick. Come on, let’s get out of here!” 

Gueira takes his hand and leads him out to the back of the bar. They come out into a deserted parking lot. 

“Fuck, my bike isn’t anywhere near here,” Gueira groans. “Fuck, we’re going to have to steal something.” 

“Maybe not.” 

“Do you see a getaway vehicle anywhere around here?”

Meis just smirks and unleashes his flames to start summoning his bike. If he shows off a little bit, that’s nobody’s business but his. Gueira’s jaw drops as he watches the vehicle materialise before them. 

“What? How? _What_?!” he gasps. “Could I do that?” 

Meis hears sirens in the distance. “Maybe later, we don’t have time for you to decide on a colour scheme. Just get on, and keep them off my back.”

Meis climbs onto the bike, and Gueira slides on after him, pressing himself tightly to Meis’ back. Meis tears out of the parking lot and races down the street, laughing at the loud shout of excitement his passenger makes from behind him. Gueira clings tightly to Meis with one arm, twisting around to keep an eye on the road behind them. 

Meis avoids major roads and busy areas. Instead, he takes a confusing, convoluted route down quiet backroads to get out of the city. Law enforcement probably won’t put too much effort into chasing down a couple of random, no-name Burnish. Meis figures if they follow the coast for a couple of hours, they can hide out near Orlando. It’s close enough that Gueira can head back to Miami when he wants to, and it’s a good spot for Meis to keep going north. 

After a little while, Gueira stops twisting around to look behind them and leans forward against Meis’ back.

“I think we’re good!” Gueira yells. 

Meis nods, even though he knows Gueira probably won’t see it, and then starts looking for a spot to pull over. He finds a secluded ocean lookout and pulls the bike into it. Gueira leans back and stretches, and Meis finds he misses the reassuring warmth of Gueira behind him. 

Meis makes sure that his hair is lying securely over his eye again. “I was thinking about heading up towards Orlando. We can get lost in the crowd for a bit, and then it’ll be easy for you to get back home.”

Gueira nods along as Meis talks. “Hey, that’s a good idea. Honestly, I probably can’t stick around here for much longer, anyway. This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten into trouble. I don’t know if I’ll come back.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, I don’t have a family waiting around for me. My landlord will get pissed off when I miss the next rent payment, but I’m never on time anyway. Nothing’s keeping me here anymore. Where are you going? Home?” 

Meis shrugs. “Nah. My family wouldn’t want me back, even if I did go home. I was just going to go sightseeing, honestly. If I keep moving around, I figure it’s harder for trouble to follow me.” 

“You got room for a plus one on that adventure?”

“Do you accept rides into the great unknown from every random Burnish you come across?” Meis asks, half curious, half amused. 

Gueira winks. “Only the cute ones.” 

Meis groans, trying not to laugh. “You’re terrible.” 

“And you’re _still_ here.” 

Meis groans again. “Oh my god, shut up!”

“Still want a plus one?”

Meis sighs dramatically, but smiles. “Sit back, shut up, and enjoy the ride.”

“That’s not the first time I’ve heard that,” Gueira teases.

Meis resists the urge to shove Gueira off the seat. He wills the bike back to life, and then they’re back on the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream about Promare with me [on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first kiss happens a couple of weeks later. It’s not after a memorable event, or even in a nice location. Nope, their first kiss happens in a gross motel after a discussion about something boring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a no slow burn zone kids, we are getting some kissing, and we are getting it TODAY.

Gueira doesn’t go back to Miami. Instead, he spends the night with Meis in Orlando, in a seedy little motel with questionable stains on the walls and weird sounds coming from the room next to theirs. The following morning, Meis summons his bike, Gueira hops on the back, and they start heading north together. They definitely don’t want to stay cornered in Florida, and Meis doesn’t want to head east and get caught along the coast, either. Heading inland gives them plenty of room to roam without getting pinned in anywhere, and out on these country roads, they can go days without ever seeing another person. It’s the perfect opportunity for Meis to show Gueira how to summon a vehicle. 

Gueira doesn’t actually end up creating a motorbike, as Meis had expected. Instead, Gueira goes for a quad bike. Meis has to admit, it suits him, even if it’s not something Meis would have picked for himself. Mostly, Meis is just impressed that Gueira figures it out so quickly. He’d like to think it’s due to his fantastic skills as a teacher, but it probably has more to do with the amount of raw power he can feel burning underneath Gueira's skin. It only takes Gueira a few goes to create his quad bike, and then he’s away laughing. Literally. On his first ride, Gueira giggles like a child, racing around in circles and skidding through the dust. Meis can't help but join in with his laughter. 

But even as proud as Meis is that Gueira figures out his vehicle without any trouble, he is a little bit sad about it. With his own set of wheels, Gueira won’t need to ride on the back of Meis’ bike any more. He had only been riding with Meis for a few days, but Meis had become used to the warmth and comfort of Gueira against his back. He would miss the way that Gueira's arms tightened around him on sharp turns, and the way that Gueira's breath felt against the back of his neck. 

Of course, it’s not all bad. Now that Gueira has his own bike, they can have some fun. They race around like reckless idiots, ducking and weaving, laughing and shouting. It’s the most fun Meis has had in years. When they’re speeding along a deserted road, Meis forgets that they’re Burnish in a world that doesn’t want them. He forgets that he’ll never be able to bring Gueira home to his family. He forgets that the only person who has ever really understood him is a stranger he picked up in a bar. 

When he’s with Gueira, and they’re on the open road together, Meis feels free. 

~...~

It doesn’t take long for the topic of Meis’ scar to come up. Meis keeps his hair over it when he can, but his hair is fine and slippery, and it doesn’t always stay where he wants it to. Neither of them rides with a helmet, and Meis can feel the way that his hair whips around his face as he rides. There’s no way to keep it hidden like that. 

Meis’ scar is a giant, ragged tear that starts above his eyebrow, goes through his eye, and ends near the corner of his mouth. Meis knows that Gueira must have noticed it by now. Meis is pretty sure that Gueira noticed his limited vision back in the bar when they first met. Even if he hadn’t seen the scar at first, they’ve spent too much time together now for him not to have at least caught a glimpse of it. Meis used to think about wearing an eye patch, but that would only hide his strangely white eye. The scar itself wouldn’t be anywhere close to completely covered, and Meis doesn’t want to lose all sight in that eye completely. Meis has come to learn that being able to see vague shapes and colours comes in handy from time to time. It’s certainly not perfect, but it’s better than nothing. 

Meis tends to keep on the right side of Gueira. It’s too easy to accidentally ignore the subtle cues from people that indicate they’re trying to get his attention when he can’t actually see them. And then it just looks like he’s an asshole. Now, normally Meis doesn’t care if people think he’s a dick. He is well aware of the fact that he can be a bit abrasive, and it’s not like he goes around trying to be likable. But it’s different with Gueira. He actually _wants_ Gueira to like him. He really likes Gueira’s company. God, it’s like he’s a kid having his first crush all over again. 

So, Meis likes to keep Gueira in his line of view. Mostly because he wants to make sure that he isn’t ever accidentally ignoring him, but partially because he doesn’t want to miss a moment of Gueira while they’re together. Sometimes, though, Meis just forgets. One evening, they find themselves looking up at the stars. Meis takes a seat on Gueira’s left side without even thinking twice. Maybe it’s just because he’s forgetful. Maybe it’s because he feels safe enough around Gueira that he doesn’t need to worry about things like keeping him in sight at all times. Meis doesn’t need to protect himself from Gueira. He's one of the few things left in the world that Meis knows he can trust. 

They chat as they look up into the night sky. When Gueira makes a particularly terrible pun, Meis throws his head back to laugh. His hair slides off his face, and Meis looks over at Gueira in time to his smile falter as he takes in the sight of Meis’ scar. Meis pulls his hair back over his face and looks away. 

“Sorry. I know it’s fucked up.” 

“No, no, it’s not,” Gueira says quickly. “It just looks like it must have hurt.” 

“Yeah, well, a knife to the face isn’t the best feeling in the world.” Meis chuckles weakly. It’s not funny, but he doesn’t know what else to do. He feels like he has to lighten the mood somehow. 

“I’m sorry,” Gueira says softly. 

Meis shrugs. “It’s fine. It’s not like you did it.” 

“Can I...” Gueira trails off. 

“What? Can you see it?” Meis has been expecting this sort of question. Gueira flushes red and stares down at his hands. 

“No, sorry, I shouldn’t have even thought about it. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” 

“Do you want to look?” Meis asks. “I don’t mind.” 

Gueira looks back up at him. “Can I? I mean, I’m just curious. I’m not trying to be weird about it, I was just wondering. But, if that’s too weird—” 

“Gueira, it’s fine, I don’t think you’re being weird.” 

And with that, Meis reaches up to tuck his hair behind his ear. Gueira stares at him for a second, and then reaches out to touch him. 

Meis flinches back out of habit. It’s hard to tell, sometimes, how close things are to his face, and he’s always worried about getting something in his good eye. Gueira yanks his hand back. 

“Sorry! Fuck, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that—”

“It’s fine. I’m just nervous about stuff near my face. You can touch me if you really want to. Just... give me some warning next time.” 

Gueira nods. “Can I... can I touch you? Your face, I mean. Fuck, I keep making it weird, I’m not normally this much of a disaster.” 

Meis laughs. Even as nervous as he is, Gueira can still make him laugh. “It’s fine. Go ahead.” 

Gueira tentatively raises his hand again, and Meis forces himself to stay in place. Once Gueira’s hand touches his cheek, he relaxes. Gueira follows Meis’ scar from his eyebrow down to the corner of his mouth. He strokes a finger along Meis’ bottom lip, pulling away abruptly when Meis parts his lips and exhales a shaky breath. 

That was... something. Meis licks his lips as they stare at each other, and he watches as Gueira’s eyes glance down at his lips again. Gueira looks back up at Meis, and they both blush and look away. 

“So that’s my scar. Gross, right?” 

“It’s not gross!” Gueira protests. “I’m just sorry you had to get it, is all.” 

“Yeah, well, it hurt like a bitch. My dad used to try and make me feel better about it by telling me that chicks dig scars. It’s just a shame that I don’t dig chicks." Meis laughs harshly. "I guess it’s a good thing that he didn’t know that. Well, he probably did, but it was just easier to pretend that he didn’t.” 

Gueira smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Tell me about it. Gotta love having a conservative family, huh?” 

“Yeah,” Meis nods. “I don’t even know what they’d have thought about me being Burnish. Well, no, I’m pretty sure they’d have hated me. I’m glad I didn’t stick around long enough to find out for sure.” 

“Yeah, well, if they’d have hated you for being Burnish, they’re assholes,” Gueira says bluntly. “People are assholes. The world is an asshole. Fuck everyone!” 

By the end of his sentence, he’s yelling out into the desert. He finishes with a heavy sigh. It breaks Meis’ heart to hear Gueira sound so defeated. 

“Do you ever wish you weren’t Burnish?” Meis asks. 

Gueira hums, thinking. “I guess. I mean, I had problems before all of this. My life wasn’t great. At least now I’m a walking arson machine. There’s nothing like setting shit on fire to make you feel a little bit better about everything else, right?” 

Meis chuckles. He tucks the escaping strands of hair back behind his hair and doesn’t miss the way that Gueira watches him intently. “Arson is a pretty good distraction.” 

Gueira continues staring at him and then smiles dopily. “You’re cute.” 

Meis rolls his eyes, but he’s certain that Gueira doesn’t miss the way that he blushes at his compliment. “Do you ever stop flirting?” 

“Nah. Besides, you like it. I can tell.” 

Meis doesn’t bother trying to pretend he’s wrong. 

~...~

Their first kiss happens a couple of weeks later. It’s not after a memorable event, or even in a nice location. Nope, their first kiss happens in a gross motel after a discussion about something boring. They use the last of their cash to get a room. It has a double bed, and they’re given instructions that there’s a spare mattress underneath. “For your friend,” the woman at the front counter says. 

Of course, when it comes time to sleep, neither of them can agree who is going to get the thin, uncomfortable mattress on the floor. 

“Look, I’m an asshole, but I’m not enough of a scumbag to make you sleep on the floor,” Meis protests. 

“Meis, I sleep like a log no matter where I am. It really doesn’t matter.” 

Their little argument continues for quite some time, and Meis can tell that they aren’t going to get anywhere like this. They’re both stubborn enough to spend the whole night arguing. If they’re not careful, it’ll be morning before they come to an agreement. It’s time to try something else. 

“Why don’t we just both take the bed? It’s a queen, there’s plenty of room,” Meis points out. 

Gueira smirks. “Do you say that to every guy you go on road trips with?” 

“Only the cute ones,” Meis teases, throwing Gueira’s line right back at him. 

Meis isn’t really sure how it happens, but suddenly there’s hardly any distance between them at all. It's the easiest thing in the world for Meis to lean forward and press his lips to Gueira’s. Gueira hums and shuffles even closer, bringing his hands up to rest them on Meis’ waist without any hesitation. Meis shivers as Gueira’s thumbs rub circles into his skin through his singlet. This isn’t the first time that Meis has kissed someone, but it’s the first time that it’s felt so _good_. Meis can feel every inch of Gueira against him, and he presses hungrily forward into the kiss. 

After maybe a minute or so, they break apart with a gasp. 

“ _Wow_ ,” Gueira breathes. 

“Wow,” Meis agrees.

“You want to do that some more?” Gueira asks. 

Meis nods, and then they’re kissing again. 

At some point, Gueira pushes Meis towards the bed, and then Meis is on his back with Gueira leaning over him. Meis gasps and clings tighter to the man above him, shuddering at the warmth that Gueira’s body radiates. There’s just so much for his brain to process all at once, and Meis finds himself delightfully overwhelmed. 

“You okay down there?” Gueira pulls back to ask. 

Meis just nods. He reaches up with a hand to stroke through Gueira’s hair, but drastically misjudges the distance to his face. It’s a lot closer than he thought, and instead of touching Gueira’s cheek, he manages to nearly poke him in the eye. 

Gueira flinches and then laughs, taking Meis’ hand is his own and guiding it to the side of his face. 

“Shit, sorry. I’m not good with the whole depth perception thing.” 

“It’s okay. I don’t mind helping you out. It’s a good excuse to hold a cute boy’s hand.” Gueira grins. 

Meis blushes and covers his face with his other hand. “Are you _always_ like this?” 

“I like it when you blush. Red looks good on you.” 

“You’re terrible.” 

“You like it.” 

“Ugh!” Meis groans, but he drops the hand over his face and smiles at Gueira anyway. Meis threads his fingers through Gueira’s hair. It's messy, and could probably do with a wash, but Meis doesn't want to stop. 

Gueira hums. “That feels nice.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. Keep going.” 

And then Gueira leans forward to kiss Meis again. Meis brings his other hand up to rest on the back of Gueira’s head, and Gueira slides his hands down Meis’ chest and sides. It makes Meis shiver, and he gasps before he can stop himself. Gueira smiles against his lips as he runs his hands over Meis’ body. 

Meis slides his hands down from Gueira’s hair to his back, following the line of his spine as they kiss. It’s hard to concentrate with Gueira’s lips on his, but he manages to work his hands under Gueira’s shirt so he can feel the bare skin of his back. Gueira trembles, and Meis knows that his reaction isn’t from Meis’ cold fingers. 

“Hey, I need to talk to you about something,” Gueira says quietly. He pulls back and sits up, shifting his weight to sit on Meis’ thighs. Meis is slightly hard in his pants, so he’s very glad Gueira didn’t try sitting any higher. 

“Yeah?” 

Gueira looks unusually nervous. He frowns, as though trying to figure out what to say. “I probably should have told you sooner, but I wasn’t actually sure if you were into me before now.” 

“Gueira, we’ve been flirting since the moment we met.” 

Gueira stares at Meis for a second and then chuckles. “Right. Yeah, okay, I never said I was smart.” 

“You really are a dumbass,” Meis agrees. 

“Hey! I’m trying to be serious here!” Gueira protests. 

“Right, sorry, super serious time,” Meis says. 

“Fuck, this is always kind of terrifying. I just want to tell you now, so you can decide whether you’re cool with it.” Gueira takes a deep breath. “I’m trans.” 

“Oh,” Meis says. He doesn’t really know what he expected Gueira to tell him, but it wasn’t this. Meis tries to keep the shock out of his voice; he doesn’t want Gueira to think his reaction is because Meis is bothered by this news. “Okay. Cool.” 

“Okay? Cool?” Gueira repeats with a frown. “What is that supposed to mean?” 

Meis shrugs. “That it’s okay, and I’m cool with it.”

Gueira exhales shakily. “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Meis agrees. “Gueira, I’m the last person who’s about to judge you for something you can’t change. I’d be the world’s worst hypocrite if I did.” Meis gestures to his scar, and then summons a tiny flame. 

Gueira laughs weakly. “Right. Yeah, sorry. I’m just used to everyone I meet being an asshole about it.”

“I’m an asshole, but not about this. Not about _you_. Do you want to come back down here and kiss me some more?” Meis asks. 

Gueira laughs and does just that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come party [on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet) It's just all me being horny for Promare.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meis and Gueira sleep together for the first time about a month after their first kiss. Well, they’ve slept together every night since then, but it takes some time for them to get to the actual sleeping together part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all want plot? There ain't much of it here. 
> 
> Y'all want sex? Let's fucking go!!

Meis and Gueira sleep together for the first time about a month after their first kiss. Well, they’ve slept together every night since then, but it takes some time for them to get to the actual _sleeping together_ part. 

One evening, they come across a cluster of abandoned houses out in the desert. They owners can’t have been gone for long; most of the buildings have broken windows and are missing doors, but they’re pretty clean otherwise. Meis is a bit suspicious of the whole scene, but he doesn’t want to pass up the opportunity to have a little fun. There’s a bed upstairs, and it’s unlikely that they’re going to be interrupted, so they can mess around and then have a decent night’s sleep. 

They’ve spent a fair amount of time fooling around together by now. Meis likes to grope Gueira’s ass when they kiss, and Gueira likes teasing Meis by rubbing up against the front of his pants whenever he can. It drives Meis nuts, but he kind of loves it. Gueira makes everything fun without even trying. It’s fun messing around, winding each other up, and Meis isn’t in any rush to get to anything more serious. He’s enjoying the chance to get to know Gueira without feeling like he’s going to bolt the second Meis gets into his pants. 

After a while, Meis starts wanting more, and he wants it faster than he’s been getting to it. He’s young, and horny, and spends nearly every second of every day in the presence of the sexiest man he has ever known. When they find the enormous bed in that abandoned house, they exchange a glance and both begin stripping without needing to say another word. 

It’s the first time that Meis has had the chance to get a proper look at Gueira. He’s seen Gueira naked before, of course, but it’s mostly just been quick glances and teasing flashes. Until now, they’ve still been moving around a little too much to find a relatively secure spot to let loose. It’s hard to get in the mood when you’re camped out under a tree or curled up in the back of a stolen ute. Meis isn’t really in the mood to get ambushed by cops while he’s in the middle of trying to fuck his boyfriend. 

The discovery of this house gives them some time to relax without the constant threat of capture breathing down their necks. And, time to relax means time to mess around. 

Meis watches Gueira as he strips out of his clothing. Gueira has the same tall, thin build that Meis does, but Gueira makes it look _good_. He’s slim, but toned, and he has a gorgeous covering of red hair over his body. Meis steps forward and slides a hand down Gueira’s stomach to his happy trail, making him shudder. 

Meis smirks and brings his hands up to Gueira’s chest, taking a small breast in each hand. Gueira gasps shakily as Meis gently squeezes the soft flesh. He stops to pinch Gueura’s nipples, grinning wickedly at the unashamed moan that Gueira lets out. 

Gueira seems to be getting a bit shaky on his feet, so Meis pushes him down onto the bed and leans over him. He kisses Gueira some more, sliding his hands into the bird’s nest that is Gueira’s hair. It’s so thick and unruly, it’s no wonder it sticks up in all directions. It could do with a good brush, but they haven’t exactly got the luxury of a nice hairbrush out here. Meis has been combing through his hair with his fingers, and that’s been working for him. They can check out the bathroom later, maybe the previous owners left something behind. Meis isn’t thrilled by the concept of sharing a hairbrush with a stranger, but it’s hardly the grossest thing he’s ever done in his life. 

Gueira whimpers into Meis’ mouth as they kiss. He moves his hips restlessly, pushing them shamelessly up into Meis. Meis pulls back and sits up, earning a disappointed moan from Gueira. Meis hushes him, sliding a finger gently along his bottom lip, pushing inside when Gueira opens his mouth. Meis smirks, and Gueira just suckles eagerly on his finger. 

“You’re so sweet,” Meis says. Gueira smirks playfully, then nips at Meis’ finger. Meis pulls his hand away to flick Gueira’s forehead. “Bad puppy.” 

Gueira goes a violent shade of red at that. 

“Do you like that? Do you want to be a good puppy for me?” Meis asks. 

Gueira groans. “Do you have a condom?” he asks, avoiding the question.

“Oh, fuck, I hadn’t even thought about that.” Meis could slap himself. “Being Burnish seems to stop us from getting sick, do you think it’d stop us catching anything?”

“I’m more worried about getting pregnant, to be honest.” 

“Wait, really? Does testosterone not stop that?” Meis asks. It was something he had completely forgotten could theoretically happen. Meis wasn’t a virgin, but he’d only ever slept with cis guys before. Potential pregnancy had never been on his radar until now. 

Gueira shakes his head. “I think it makes it harder to get pregnant, but it’s not a complete contraceptive. I haven’t had a shot in a few months, anyway. I am fertile and ready to go.”

“Please, never phrase it like that again.”

“What? I’m just giving you a heads up. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really feel like now is the time to have a baby.” 

Meis snorts. “What are you talking about? We could get a sling and little Gueira Junior could come along for the ride.” 

Gueira grimaces for a second, but then his eyes widen and he gasps. “We should get a pet! We could totally get something cool like a snake and use a sling to carry it around! Let’s get a snake and call it Gueira Junior!” 

Meis sighs. “Gueira, we ride around on bikes made of fire. There’s a lot of fire involved in everything we do. If the fire didn’t kill the snake, what would we feed it? We aren’t exactly rolling in food right now.” 

“We’ve had to eat rats before. We could feed it rats. Snakes like rats, right?” Gueira manages to miss Meis’ point entirely. 

“We’re not getting a snake!” 

“You’re such a party pooper,” Gueira grumbles. “You should blow me to make me feel better.” 

“Why, because you’re sad that I won’t let you have a snake?” 

“Exactly,” Gueira huffs. He spreads his legs even further. “Get to it.” 

Meis rolls his eyes at Gueira’s antics, but shuffles back to sit on his heels between Gueira’s legs. Faced with the sight of Gueira’s bare pussy, Meis can’t say this is much of a punishment. His pubes are just as thick and untameable as the rest of his body hair, and Meis can already see the gleam of moisture around Gueira’s hole. His clit pokes out of his hair, red and swollen. Meis can’t wait to get his mouth on it. 

He goes to stick a couple of fingers in his mouth to wet them, but then looks up at the way Gueira is watching him. Meis leans forward and presses his fingers to Gueira’s mouth. 

“Open up, puppy.” 

Gueira goes even redder, but opens his mouth without complaint. Meis strokes over Gueira’s tongue, smiling when Gueira looks up and they make eye contact. Meis keeps his eyes locked on Gueira as he slides his fingers deeper into his mouth, cupping Gueira’s cheek with his other hand. He presses deeper, grinning when Gueira gags slightly. By now, his fingers are in all the way up to the third knuckle. He can’t press any deeper, even if he wanted to. Gueira’s eyes water, and he chokes and gags slightly, but keeps sucking determinedly. 

Meis pulls his fingers back out of Gueira’s mouth, watching as the string of saliva that follows them stretches and snaps. He rolls over to Gueira’s side and reaches back down to his cunt with his wet hand. He trails the tips of his fingers over Gueira’s engorged clit. He keeps the pressure so light that he’s barely even touching Gueira at all. 

“Oh, fuck!” Gueira groans and then giggles. “It tickles when you do that.” 

So Meis does it again. And again. And again. He slowly increases the pressure on Gueira’s clit as he goes, so it goes from light tickles to grinding strokes. Gueira goes from laughing to moaning, steadily getting louder with each pass over the sensitive little nub. The saliva on Meis’ fingers soon isn’t enough, so he dips down to Gueira’s hole to use the wetness that is rapidly gathering there. He slides his fingers back over Gueira’s clit, flicking it back and forward. 

“Oh my god, Meis,” Gueira moans. 

“Can I put my mouth on you, now?” Meis asks. 

“Fuck, yes!”

“Am I okay to put my fingers inside you?” 

“Oh, _god_ , yes!” 

Meis takes his hand off Gueira and sits up. He pulls the hair tie off his wrist, trying to keep it from getting too sticky with Gueira’s fluids. Gueira watches hungrily as Meis pulls his hair back into a ponytail. The act of exposing his face to Gueira is still something that makes Meis nervous. He knows that Gueira isn’t bothered by his scar, but Meis has spent years habitually hiding it. Meis still doesn’t quite understand why Gueira doesn’t seem to be bothered by it.

As vulnerable as it makes Meis feel to bare his face, he does it anyway. When he looks back to Gueira, lying splayed out on the bed with his entire body exposed, Meis supposes the feeling is probably pretty mutual right now. 

Meis swings himself over to lie on his stomach between Gueira’s legs. He leans down and sucks Gueira’s clit into his mouth, sucking gently as Gueira snaps his legs up to clamp around Meis’ head. 

“Fuck!” Gueira shouts. 

Meis brings his hand up to stroke along the outside of Gueira’s cunt. He teases along the outer lips and then over his hole, enjoying the way that Gueira shifts and pants above him. He can feel the rippling power in Gueira’s thighs on either side of his head, keeping him exactly where Gueira wants him. 

Meis keeps sucking at Gueira’s clit, occasionally letting go to lick and nose at it, still toying with his entrance. When Gueira’s moans begin to take on a more frustrated note, Meis slowly slides a finger into him. That makes Gueira jolt, and he thrusts his hips up into Meis’ face. 

Meis pulls back to kiss at the inside of Gueira’s thigh as he fucks him with one finger. “Puppy, you’re going to crush my head if you keep going. Relax, let me enjoy you.” 

Gueira lets his legs drop to the bed with a groan. “How am I supposed to relax when you’re doing that? Do you have any idea how good that feels?” 

“Maybe,” Meis purrs. “You want to tell me how much you’re enjoying yourself?” 

Gueira whines. “Fuck, it’s so good. Oh my god, Meis, baby, spark of my heart, no-one gives head like you do.” 

“Careful, it’ll go to my head.” 

“I’ll go to your head after this,” Gueira says. He giggles at his own joke and then gasps when Meis thrusts his finger harshly into him. 

“You never stop making jokes. You’ve literally got someone knuckle deep in your pussy, and you’re _still_ trying to be funny.” 

“I can’t help it!” Gueira whines. 

“I know you can’t, puppy,” Meis soothes, pressing a line of kisses to his thigh. “Can I put another finger in you?” 

“Yes, god, fuck me!”

Meis chuckles and does as he asks. “God, you’re so wet. I don’t even think I’ll need lube when I do get to fuck you.” 

Gueira groans. “Oh god, I want you to fuck me right now. Please, Meis, we’ll deal with a Gueira Junior if it happens!” 

Meis snorts. “I thought Gueira Junior was the snake?” 

Gueira whines pathetically. “Stop teasing me!” 

“Okay, I’m not going to fuck you, because I don’t want to have to raise a baby snake with you right now. I will, however, come on your stomach. How’s that?” 

Gueira grumbles. “Fine.” 

“You make it sound like such a chore. I could just come on the sheets if you’d prefer.” 

“No, please Meis! The sheets don’t deserve that!” 

“And you do?” Meis raises an eyebrow. 

“Please?” Gueira tries to hit Meis with the puppy-dog eyes. Unfortunately for him, the effect is slightly ruined when Meis rubs against his clit and Gueira’s eyes practically roll back into his head in pleasure. 

“Fine, you convinced me,” Meis sighs. Gueira doesn’t need to know that Meis was going to come on him anyway. Gueira doesn’t need to know that Meis has spent many a night lying awake to the thought of covering Gueira in his come. Maybe he’ll tell Gueira later, if he behaves. “I want you to come first, though.” 

Gueira’s response comes in the form of a shocked yell as Meis simultaneously thrusts a third finger inside and sucks his clit back into his mouth. When Gueira brings his legs up and clamps around Meis’ head again, Meis lets it slide. He’ll have time to train Gueira not to do that later. For now, he just wants to focus on giving Gueira the best orgasm of his life. 

He laves his tongue over Gueira’s clit, switching between sucking and licking. At one point he mouths his way down to Gueira’s cunt, pressing his tongue in beside the three fingers thrusting in and out of his sloppy, wet hole. Meis lifts his other hand back up to Gueira’s clit, rubbing over it as he pushes his tongue and fingers into him. 

Gueira moans and cries and gasps above him, fisting his hands in the sheets. Meis moves back over his clit, framing it between two fingers as he runs his tongue over it, again and again. 

Gueira lets out a high-pitched moan. “Fuck, I’m close.” 

“What do you need me to do?” Meis asks. 

“Just rub my clit, a little more pressure, _yes_ , keep doing that,” Gueira instructs. He groans again, and then he lets out a sob and presses up into Meis’ hand, grinding into it desperately. Gueira’s legs shake and tremble where they’re pinned on either side of his head, and he pants harshly as he comes. Meis keeps up the steady pressure against Gueira’s clit until Gueira sags back into the bed and starts shaking his head. Meis slides his hand over Gueira’s stomach, playing with the hair of Gueira’s happy trail as he goes. 

“How was that?” Meis asks smugly. 

“I think I saw god,” Gueira says breathlessly. He looks intently up at Meis. “He told me that we should get a snake.” 

“Oh fuck off,” Meis laughs. “Do you still want me to come on you, or not?” 

“Come all over me! Make me filthy!” Gueira says, still panting from his orgasm.

“It’s not going to take much. Watching you come is so goddamn hot, baby.” Meis climbs up and shuffles forward to sit on Gueira’s hips. His cock is painfully hard and it bobs happily out in front of him. Meis hadn’t been paying it much attention until now, too distracted by the beauty of Gueira coming undone before him. 

But now that he’s thinking about it, the arousal thrumming through his body is almost more than he can handle. It’s like he’s burning again, and Meis has to glance around to make sure that isn’t the case. He wants to get a chance to sleep in the room, not accidentally burn it to the ground. Once he’s satisfied that the only thing that is burning is the arousal in his stomach, he turns back to Gueira. Meis takes his cock in hand and thrusts into the tight circle of his fist. His hand still wet from fingering Gueira, and that knowledge makes Meis’ cock throb. 

“I’m literally right about to come,” Meis warns. “Still want it?” 

“God, _yes_ , please.”

They make eye contact, and then it’s all over. Meis groans, spurting over Gueira’s stomach and up to his chest, nearly hitting his chin. The sight of his come hitting Gueira’s skin is almost too much to handle, he can feel his dick twitching in his hand. Meis slumps forward and ruts against Gueira’s stomach, sliding through the mess of come on Gueira’s skin as he rides out the end of his orgasm. 

“Fuck, I’ve never come that quickly before,” Meis gasps against Gueira’s chest. Gueira brings his arms up to wrap tightly around him. 

“I am a pretty irresistible view, if I do say so myself,” Gueira teases. “I can’t blame you for not having much stamina while I’m around.” 

Meis chuckles. “Thanks, I feel so much better.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

They’re quiet for a while after that. Meis rests against Gueira’s chest, enjoying the way that Gueira trails his fingers along his bare back. The air is cool against his naked skin, but Gueira is a powerful furnace beneath him. His skin is smooth and warm, and Meis never wants to move from this spot. He’s safe, and sated, and even though his life is a mess, he’s happy. He feels at home. 

When Meis was younger, he had always felt out of place. He didn’t fit in the kids at school, and his family would never have accepted him for who he was. Meis thinks he’ll always feel a certain fondness for Dallas, but it was never somewhere that he wanted to stay forever. 

Gueira makes Meis feel like he’s found the place he’s supposed to be. Meis’ home is housed in the chest of the man lying below him. His home is in the warmth that comes with Gueira’s touch. His home is in the laughter that accompanies them on rides together.

Meis has found a home in the man he met in a bar in Miami. 

~...~

The next morning, they ransack the bathroom. There is, by some miracle, a hairbrush in one of the cupboards. Initially, getting Gueira to let Meis brush his hair is a bit of a nightmare. There are an alarming number of knots lurking in the depths, and Gueira decides that he does _not_ enjoy the sensation of Meis working them out with the brush. Meis has to literally sit on Gueira and pin him to the floor to force him to sit still. 

But, by the time the knots are gone, and it’s not painful anymore, Gueira is putty in Meis’ hands. He presses eagerly into the brush as Meis works it through his hair. If Gueira was physically able to purr, Meis doesn’t doubt that he would. 

Meis tucks the hairbrush into his pack. He tells himself that it’s just a useful tool to have on hand. It really doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that he can’t wait to have Gueira in his lap again, that he can’t stop thinking about the way that Gueira smiled as Meis ran his fingers over his scalp. Nope, not at all. Meis is just being practical. 

Or, that’s what he’s going to keep telling himself, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it's literally all just sex. I hope y'all enjoyed. 
> 
> Come watch me be an idiot [on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I hate to break it to you, Gueira, but I’m not quite as enthusiastic about giant muscles as you are.” 
> 
> “You’re enthusiastic about these muscles though, right?” Gueira waggles his eyebrows.
> 
> Meis rolls his eyes. “Yes, your muscles are very nice, Gueira.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And back to some plot! Today we have the story of how Meis and Gueira made their armour for the first time!

Life continues as usual for the next few months. It’s just Meis and Gueira, a pack of supplies, and their bikes. They’re free to go wherever they please, and their only responsibility is to keep moving enough to throw the law off their trail. They steal stuff and burn stuff, and generally make a bit of a nuisance for themselves, but that can’t really be helped. Without money, they don’t really have much of a choice. 

They follow the road at random, exploring places that take their fancy and setting up camp wherever they can. Their flames keep their body temperatures regulated, so they’re never really at the mercy of the elements (even if the cold nights under the stars can be a bit unpleasant). Their bikes don’t need gas, so they never need to worry about running out at an inopportune time. It’s not a glamorous life, not by any means, but it’s freedom. Lots of Burnish don’t get that kind of freedom, so Meis doesn't like to complain. 

They come across plenty of Burnish who are doing the same thing; roaming around the country, avoiding the law. Apparently, attitudes towards the Burnish aren’t getting any better. In a lot of places, it even seems like they’re getting worse. Meis enjoys the chance to chat with others like them, even if they only seem to bring bad news. 

There’s talk of huge numbers of Burnish going missing around the east coast. At first, it was just the odd person or two, and people chalked it up to unexplained accidents, or the missing person going into hiding. But from what people tell Meis and Gueira, it’s too regular, too frequent, to just be an accident. Burnish are vanishing every day, and no one knows where they’re going. People are afraid. 

Meis can’t shake the feeling that they should go and check it out. He mentions this to Gueira, who agrees whole-heartedly. A sane person might hear ‘disappearances on the east coast’ and immediately go west. Unfortunately, neither Meis nor Gueira is particularly sane. They don’t know any of the missing people, but these people are Burnish, they’re _their_ people. No one seems to care that something is obviously wrong, and that doesn’t sit right with Meis. He certainly doesn’t think he and Gueira will be able to do anything, but it doesn’t hurt to have a little poke around. 

Once they hit the coast, they run into other Burnish who are curious about the disappearances too. Out of convenience, they start banding together. Meis and Gueira ran out of money a long time ago, and it’s easier to steal shit when you’ve got people watching your back. Ideally, they wouldn’t steal anything, but it’s not like they have any other choice. They don’t take from anyone who needs the stuff more than they do. They’re not assholes, after all, they’re just trying to look after their people. Making life difficult for innocent people isn’t the goal here. 

But, if they let a few sparks loose when someone gives them shit for being Burnish, it’s not like that can be helped. Their flames really do have a mind of their own, sometimes. 

Meis and Gueira take charge of their little rag-tag group with ease. It’s not as though it's something anyone decides, they just fall into the roles without even noticing. Before they know it, they’re running a biker gang and trying to figure out what’s happening to the missing Burnish. 

Meis has a good mind for strategy and planning, so he ends up in charge of organising supply runs and scouting trips into nearby cities. Gueira is better with people; he can pump up a crowd with ease, and generally people find him the more approachable of the two. Most of it is probably due to his personality, but Meis suspects that not having a giant scar taking up half of his face helps too. 

They’re both equal leaders, but it’s pretty clear to anyone that pays any close attention that Meis defers to Gueira. That doesn’t bother Meis, he’d rather stay out of the spotlight as much as he possibly can. Besides, Meis is happy to let Gueira take the lead when they’re out in public. They both know it’s a different story when they’re alone. 

Whenever they’re not planning a supply run or dealing with local law enforcement, Meis and Gueira like to take the time to mess around with their powers. After all, Meis hadn’t known that he could create a vehicle out of his flames until it happened. He doesn’t doubt that there are other abilities that they’ve yet to tap into. It doesn’t take long for him to be proven right. This time, it’s Gueira who discovers something new. 

They’re still pretty early into their Mad Burnish days, back before they were even known as Mad Burnish. The group is only a few months old by this point, and they’re still getting the hang of being an organised team. Meis is pouring over some maps with one of the scouting teams when Gueira bursts into the room. He’s wildly out of breath, and he looks around frantically until he spots Meis. 

“Meis! You have to come see this!” 

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Meis asks. With Gueira, sometimes it can be hard to judge from his responses whether he’s just excited, or if something bad has happened. That man has never met an emotion he didn’t express at full capacity. 

“No, no, I figured something out! Come on, you have to come see!” 

Meis rolls his eyes, but leaves the others to their work and follows Gueira out into the desert. 

“Okay, I hope you’re wearing socks, because I’m about to knock them off,” Gueira announces. “You might want to stand back a little bit, I’m still working this out.” 

Meis decides not to remind Gueira that he’s basically indestructible (unless Gueira has managed to get his hands on one of those stupid ice guns the cops use) and takes a couple of steps back. Gueira nods and takes a deep breath. He closes his eyes and summons a powerful wave of fire that engulfs his whole body. It swirls around him for a moment, and then—

“What the hell is that?” Meis shrieks. He stumbles back slightly, unsure whether he wants to bolt or get a closer look. 

“I think it’s armour!” Gueira announces. His voice is slightly distorted from inside the massive, hulking _thing_ around him. It’s huge and black, with spiked red claws and horns. The enormous green teeth turn transparent so Meis can see Gueira’s delighted expression. “Look at how fucking gigantic I am!” 

Meis can’t help it, he laughs at that. “Were you out here imagining yourself with bigger muscles again?” 

Gueira grimaces slightly. “Uh. No.” 

“You were!” Meis cackles. “You wanted muscles, so you made them out of your flames! Aw, puppy, that’s kind of adorable.” 

“It’s not adorable! Look at me, I’m fucking terrifying!” The teeth become opaque again, and Meis has to agree. In this form, Gueira is _very_ intimidating. Without being able to see his grinning face, the armour looks more beast than man, and it’s just the sort of thing Meis wouldn’t want to encounter in a dark alleyway. 

There isn’t a non-Burnish out there that wouldn’t be terrified to come across Gueira like this. Everyone in the crew knows Gueira too well to be really scared of him. Especially Meis, who was there to see Gueira cry when he nearly ran over a little duckling on his bike. The anonymity and fear factor in this new ability could definitely be used to their advantage. 

“You know, this could be useful for us,” Meis says. “You’re completely protected in there, that’ll give us a leg up on the Freeze Force. And, no one is going to be able to tell who you are. If we can keep our identities secret from the public, we might not be targeted as much when we’re out of the armour.” 

“We’re a package deal, if they see you with me it’ll be a dead giveaway,” Gueira points out. “You need to make your own!”

“I hate to break it to you, Gueira, but I’m not quite as enthusiastic about giant muscles as you are.” 

“You’re enthusiastic about these muscles though, right?” Gueira makes his face visible again and waggles his eyebrows at Meis. 

Meis rolls his eyes. “Yes, your muscles are very nice, Gueira.” 

Gueira beams. “I thought so. Anyway, you don’t have to make armour that looks like mine. What’s more your style?”

Meis thinks for a second. A big, imposing suit of armour doesn’t exactly sound like him. He doesn’t feel the need to intimidate people like that. The scariest thing about him is his scar, and he’s never appreciated the way that people react to that. Plus, Meis has been tall and lanky his whole life. Until he became Burnish, physical strength was never what got him through things. He doesn’t really feel the need to use it, or the illusion of it, now. 

Meis stares at the desert ground below him. He watches as a lone spider crawls across the dirt. Its long, spindly legs lift it across stones and around dips in the earth. The average person would probably be made uncomfortable by the sight of a spider making its way towards them. Meis, on the other hand, takes a moment to appreciate the tiny creature. Spiders, and most insects for that matter, are creatures that he has always taken interest in. 

Huh. That could work. 

“Okay, I think I know what I want,” Meis says. “Now what?” 

Gueira shrugs. It’s kind of amusing, watching such a big, intimating figure do something as mundane as shrug. “I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s kind of how we make our bikes. I’ve made my armour a couple of times since that first time, I just imagine it in my head and the flames do the rest.” 

Meis takes a deep breath and looks back up at Gueira. He visualises a similar armour, but slimmer, more streamlined. He closes his eyes, focuses, and then lets his flames whirl around him. He can feel them solidify around him, encasing him. Soon, his entire body is covered. 

Meis opens his eyes again, and suddenly the ground is much further away. The world has a slight yellow tinge, and Gueira whoops loudly beside him. 

“Fuck yeah!” 

Meis takes a moment to admire himself. “Wow. This is fucking crazy.” 

He’s covered in the same black armour Gueira, but it’s taller and thinner. It has blue detailing and slim arms that end in a sharp point. He’s looking through the teeth of his armour too, and he’s definitely taller now. He almost wants to put his arms out to steady himself. 

“I’m liking the extra arms,” Gueira says. “They’re kinda creepy, but it’s cool.” 

“What extra arms?” Meis looks down, but he can’t see anything. 

“No, they’re on your shoulders. You kind of remind me of a big bug.” 

Meis looks over his shoulder, and there they are. They make him think of a praying mantis. “Well, that was the idea.” 

“You wanted to look like a bug? Like Batman?” Gueira gives Meis a weird look. 

“What? No, not like Batman. Gueira, Batman literally has ‘bat’ in the name. You know a bat isn’t a bug, right?” 

“No, no, I know that! I meant like, he was scared of bats, so he became a giant bat to scare his enemies,” Gueira explains. 

Meis stares at Gueira for a moment. “That’s the nerdiest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I cannot believe you’ve been a comics nerd this whole time, and you never told me.” 

“I’m not a nerd!” Gueira splutters. “I just happen to know things about pop culture!” 

“Whatever you say, sweetheart,” Meis chuckles. “And no, I didn’t think of insects because I’m scared of them. I like bugs. I was a bug kid. They unsettle most people, but I like them.” 

“You know, that makes sense. You were a weird kid, huh?” 

“I was the weird kid, then my eye got fucked up, and then I was the weird and scary kid,” Meis shrugs. “I wasn’t particularly popular, as you might imagine.” 

Gueira is quiet for a moment, and then his armour vanishes. “Come out here, I want to give you a hug.” 

It takes a moment for Meis to figure out how to get his armour to release him. The second he’s free, Gueira pulls Meis into his arms. 

“Uh, hey, you okay?” Meis asks. 

“Kids are the fucking worst. If I had known you when we were younger, I’d have made you my best friend the second we met,” Gueira mumbles into Meis’ singlet. 

Meis snorts and holds Gueira just as tightly as Gueira is holding him. “Thank you, you giant sap.” 

“If you ever see anyone that was mean to you, just point them out. I’ll fight them.” Gueira promises. 

“You’re so romantic.” 

“Yeah, I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meis catches Gueira checking his armour out in the mirror at least 5 times in the following week. Meis decides not to tease him about it, like the good boyfriend he is. 
> 
> Come scream about Promare with me [on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To put it simply; Meis is scared. Gueira is easily the best thing to ever have happened to him, but they still haven’t had a serious discussion about what they mean to each other. Meis wants to be honest with Gueira, but not at the cost of their relationship. In the grand scheme of things, they all have much bigger problems to deal with. He keeps putting it off. He’ll deal with it when he has the time. 
> 
> And then, one day, his time nearly runs out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIRST LOVE DECLARATION FIRST LOVE DECLARATION FIRST LOVE DECLARATION FIRST LOVE DECLARATION!!! 
> 
> And a bunch of plot stuff. But that's not as exciting.

In the beginning of Mad Burnish, before they're even known by that name, they’re little more than a nuisance for local law enforcement. In the early days, their only focus is survival. They aren’t particularly well organised, and their only concern is looking for something to eat and somewhere to sleep. They’re just a bunch of random people banding together out of convenience and a shared curiosity about the disappearances. They want to know more, but it’s hard to focus on bigger problems when you’re on the verge of starving to death. For the first few weeks, survival is their only goal.

But as their numbers grow, and they start to become a cohesive unit, they can afford to be more ambitious. They have a system for setting up camp every time they move, and they start collecting more resources than they need on a daily basis. With more food and medical supplies, they can run recon missions into nearby towns and settlements. Meis starts allocating people to different missions and assignments based on what best suits them. They play to their skills and make the most of the resources they have. They target anti-Burnish organisations and bust people out of Burnish prisons. They start becoming braver with the places they target, and more daring with the objectives of their missions.

They’re not sure who calls them Mad Burnish first. Neither Meis nor Gueira had thought to give their group a name, and no one else had ever brought it up. They’re a little bit more preoccupied with surviving than making sure they have a cool name, and then the universe makes that decision for them before they even know it's happening. They destroy a pretty significant facility that was trying to develop a drug to suppress the Burnish mutation, and someone calls them a group of "mad Burnish". Before they know it, that little nickname is spreading across the internet, and then it’s all over the news. It seems to be all anyone is talking about, and it sticks. When Gueira first hears about it, he’s just upset that he didn’t think of it himself.

Before they know it, Mad Burnish has become something of a symbol for Burnish rebellion. They like to think they stand for Burnish liberation, but they know that most people think they’re just crazy anarchists trying to turn the world to chaos and oppress the non-Burnish. It frustrates Meis more than he cares to admit. If the non-Burnish wanted to be oppressed so badly, they could try spending a day living as the Burnish do. Meis would love to see how some of those stuck-up assholes would cope with living out in the desert and eating lizards to survive. They might be willing to have a little more sympathy to the plight of the Burnish after that. 

Despite the backlash, they're always running into Burnish who know who they are and are thrilled to meet them. Lots of people seem to just want the chance to thank them for the work that they’re doing, but every so often they meet people who want to join them. Burnish come from all over the country to ally with the only group that seems to be making a difference in the stand for their freedom. 

Meis and Gueira throw themselves into trying to better the lives of their fellow Burnish. They don’t have the numbers to try anything too risky, but they can disrupt the work of corrupt law enforcement and destroy facilities creating weapons to be used against them. In the grand scheme of things, they’re only small victories, but Meis doesn’t let that discourage them. Even the tiniest success is still useful. 

After maybe a year in the area, they finally start heading towards Promepolis. So far, they'd kept their distance from the city, sticking to smaller towns along the coast. For a while, they lacked the numbers to deal with the danger associated with such a huge city, but with their recent victories and steady growth, Meis and Gueira agree that they’re ready. Promepolis is likely to have a much larger law enforcement presence than anything else they've encountered, and they suspect it has a significant role to play in the missing Burnish. Everything is pointing to Promepolis, and they don’t want to stall any longer. 

The law enforcement here is nothing like what they’ve dealt with before. They have weaponry and resources that pose a serious threat, and they’ve already had some very close misses thanks to those infernal ice guns. Meis doesn’t like it. It makes sense that a bigger city would have meaner cops, but these guys are excessive. Gueira jokes that they must be overcompensating for something, and Meis laughs before he can stop himself. 

One day, Meis and Gueira sneak into the city to attend a speech by the city’s governor, Kray Foresight. By chance, this speech is about thanking Freeze Force for their role in removing the Burnish 'threat' from the city. According to Foresight, they’re making good ground in ensuring that these ‘terrorists’ are no longer a risk to their society. He makes a particular point of condemning the actions of Mad Burnish, saying that anyone found to have ties to this ‘terrorist group’ will be arrested immediately.

That gives Meis and Gueira a grim sense of satisfaction. They aren’t happy about the fact that they’ve got such a big target on the backs, but it’s good to know that their actions are having an impact. The governor of Promepolis knows who they are, so there’s no doubt that the rest of the city probably does too. 

Listening to Kray talk about the Burnish like they’re the scum of the earth just makes Meis even more determined that they’re doing the right thing. With anti-Burnish sentiment so clearly spread through every part of the city, there’s no way that Burnish could ever be safe here. Someone has to do something, and it’s clear that Mad Burnish is the only group willing to try. Maybe they’re brave, or maybe they’re just dumb. All Meis knows is that he won’t be able to live with himself if he doesn’t try to make a difference here.

It doesn't take them long to get pretty familiar with Freeze Force. They seem to be responsible for responding to the vast majority of Burnish incidents around the city, and after watching a few of these go down, there's an alarming pattern. The weapons of Freeze Force are designed to incapacitate, and they never turn anyone to ash. Once they've got someone subdued, they load them into a truck and take them away. From what Meis can tell, Freeze Force answers directly to Foresight and Foresight alone. He's very openly and very loudly anti-Burnish, and that seems to be winning him the approval of the majority of the residents in the city. Plus, with the money of the Foresight Foundation behind him, he can easily afford to keep researching and creating more anti-Burnish tech. 

Foresight, the governor of Promepolis himself, is the one behind the disappearances. 

It's a bittersweet breakthrough. They still don’t know _why_ Foresight wants the Burnish, and they don’t know where they’re being kept, either. If anything, now they seem to have more questions than before, and Meis has no idea how they’re going to get any answers. It feels like the world's worst case of one step forward, two steps back, and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. 

Meis refuses to let his frustration get to him, and he and Gueira keep pushing forward. With so much time spent in Promepolis, they begin running into Freeze Force on a near-daily basis. They decide to begin moving their camp every few days as an extra precaution. Mad Burnish is a powerful group full of powerful individuals, but they’re no match for the rapidly advancing technology of Freeze Force. They can freeze someone solid in a split second, and it only takes the smallest mistake to fall victim to them. 

Meis will never forget the day they first lost someone to Freeze Force.

It was supposed to be a routine supply run; they weren’t supposed to run into any trouble. When the team returned, they were quiet. There was no excitement in the face of a successful mission. Meis could instantly tell something was wrong. 

The leader of the squad, Alena, looked up at Meis. Her expression was flat, and her eyes were empty. “We ran into some Freeze Force agents. We lost Markus.”

It was quiet in the camp that night. The next morning, they head back into the city without hesitating. Markus isn't the last person they lose to Freeze Force. 

Freeze Force never actually kills anyone outright. The only ever take the Burnish in alive. That seems to give the other members of Mad Burnish some hope. You can save a captured person, but you can’t bring someone back from the dead. That has to be the better alternative, right? 

Meis isn’t so sure. There must be a reason that Freeze Force is so focused on taking the Burnish alive, and Meis doesn’t think it’s a good one. It doesn’t seem likely that they’re capturing the Burnish just to throw them in prison. Normal prisons aren’t enough to hold Burnish prisoners. It’s too easy for them to escape with their flames, and prison guards with normal guns are no match for them. It takes advanced freezing technology to suppress the powers of the Burnish, and that costs money. Even though he seems to have more money than he knows what to do with, Foresight doesn’t seem the type to want to spend a ton of money on something that isn’t useful to him.

There _has_ to be another reason behind their determination to capture the Burnish. Meis is sure of it. 

They start organising more scouting missions into the city. They have to learn more if they stand any chance at finding and saving the Burnish. This is when Meis and Gueira’s armour really comes in handy. Since they've never been into Promepolis without their armour, no one knows who they are when they're out of it. They can walk around in plain sight without drawing attention to themselves. They spend a lot of time wandering around the city, carefully breaking into places and learning everything they can. It's helpful, but still never enough. No matter what they do, it never seems like it's enough. 

Meis spends more time than ever going over maps and schematics. He needs to make sure that every mission’s back-up plan has a back-up. They can’t keep losing people to Freeze Force. Any time they do, Meis feels like it’s his fault. These people are counting on him to give them the information they need to come home safely. He has to remove the uncertainties from missions. When Meis fails to plan for something, when the team doesn’t have a contingency plan for whatever happens, they lose people.

Meis doesn’t think he can take much more loss. He works himself into the ground trying to ensure that every outing is meticulously planned from start to finish. At times, Gueira has to remind Meis to eat and drink. He’s there to gently guide Meis away from planning sessions that run late into the night, and he does whatever he can to help Meis with his work during the day. He seems to have a better sense for what Meis’ body needs than Meis does himself. When the work seems more important than anything else, Gueira is there to remind him that he's important too. 

Meis doesn’t know what he’d do without Gueira. He’s a steady presence by Meis’ side, always there when Meis needs him. Gueira has proven himself willing to take a punch for Meis, literally, and Meis couldn’t be more in love with Gueira if he tried.

Unfortunately, that causes something of a problem for Meis.

The fact that Meis is in love with Gueira isn’t, in itself, an issue. The actual issue is the fact that Meis doesn’t know how to tell Gueira that he’s in love with him. They kiss and fuck and sleep in each other’s arms every night, but Meis is still too scared to tell Gueira that he’s in love with him. It’s the stupidest problem in the entire world, and yet it haunts Meis’ every waking moment.

Meis knows that he should just come out and say it. As a member of Mad Burnish, he knows better than anyone that capture (and possibly death) is waiting for them around every corner. You never know when your time might be up. Meis can’t bear the thought of his time being up before he gets the chance to tell Gueira how he really feels about him. 

Meis knows that he loves Gueira. There’s no question about his feelings towards his hot-headed boyfriend. Meis just isn’t so sure about Gueira’s feelings towards him. Meis knows that Gueira cares about him. You don’t throw away your one chance at having a normal life for just anyone. You don’t spend every moment of every day with someone unless you’re at least somewhat fond of them. Meis just isn’t sure quite how far Gueira’s feelings go. If Gueira loved him, wouldn’t he have said something by now? What if Meis ruins everything by confessing? What if Gueira is so freaked out that he leaves? What if he never comes back? Meis is barely functional without Gueira, and Mad Burnish would crumble without his leadership.

To put it simply; Meis is scared. Gueira is easily the best thing to ever have happened to him, but they still haven’t had a serious discussion about what they mean to each other. Meis wants to be honest with Gueira, but not at the cost of their relationship.

It makes Meis want to scream. Here he is, one of the leaders of the country’s most infamous Burnish rebellion groups. He literally has the power of fire at his fingertips. He might just be one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. All of this, and he’s still too scared to tell his boyfriend that he loves him. It’s ridiculous, and Meis knows that it’s ridiculous, but combined with the stresses of life as a leader of Mad Burnish, it’s wearing on him. He tries (and fails) not to spend too much time thinking about it. In the grand scheme of things, they all have much bigger problems to deal with. He keeps putting it off. He’ll deal with it when he has the time. 

And then, one day, his time nearly runs out.

He’s out on a mission with Gueira. It’s just the two of them, and they’re doing a quick recon mission into Promepolis. They get into the city, infiltrate the target building, get the info, and get out. It’s quick and easy, just as Meis’ information suggested it would be. It’s not until they’ve just crossed the city border that everything falls apart.

Meis doesn’t even hear the bullet that hits his bike. All he knows is that one minute, he’s riding alongside Gueira, and the next, his bike is encased in ice and he’s flying through the air. He forms his armour around himself without even having to think about it, so he’s protected as he hits the ground. That isn’t much of an issue. The Freeze Force trucks rapidly approaching them, however, are another story. Meis and Gueira are seriously outnumbered, and there’s no way to call for help. Gueira skids to a stop beside Meis and summons his own armour before getting into a fighting stance. It’s very clear that they’re going to have to fight their way out of this, and Meis takes a deep breath as the trucks converge on them. They can do this. They might be outnumbered, but Meis and Gueira were born to fight together.

Their flames duck and weave effortlessly around one another, and they create a truly impressive inferno in a matter of seconds. Despite having the element of surprise and the advantage of numbers, the Freeze Force agents struggle to get through their wall of flames. They do their best, freezing sections here and there. But, ultimately, Meis and Gueira’s flames break free of the ice with ease. Meis is beginning to think that they might not even have a bruise by the time they get out of this.

And then Gueira goes down.

Meis isn’t entirely sure how it happens. One minute he’s up against Meis’ back, laughing and cackling as they push Freeze Force back. Then, there’s a loud crash, and Meis feels ice. The laughter is gone. It’s quiet. Meis doesn’t even want to turn around. He knows what he’s going to see. If he can’t see it, he might be able to pretend that it hasn’t happened... right?

Meis turns. There, Gueira lies encased in a block of ice. Meis feels like he's the one to have been shot in the chest.

“Gueira!” Meis is barely aware of the broken sound that rips out of him. “ _Gueira!_ ” he yells again. Logically, he knows that yelling isn’t going to do anything to fix this. But, faced with the sight of Gueira frozen solid right in front of him, he can’t seem to do anything else. He can’t move. He can’t think. Everything is falling apart, and he just doesn’t know what to do.

Meis’ panic is interrupted by a series of shots of ice that hit the ground between them. Meis backs away instinctively before he realises that they’re trying to drive him away from Gueira. Freeze Force knows that they won’t get to Gueira while Meis is protecting him, so their only options are to get him to move, or to incapacitate him too. If Meis goes down now, they’re both as good as dead.

But without Gueira to help him, Meis doesn’t stand a chance. His flames are powerful, but he is surrounded by _dozens_ of Freeze Force agents. The only way Meis can see himself escaping is by abandoning Gueira and making a run for it. If Meis wasn’t literally fighting for his life, he’d laugh. The thought of leaving Gueira is so ridiculous, it’s almost comical. He’d rather go out fighting to protect Gueira than escape safely without him.

Meis tries to get closer to Gueira, but Freeze Force is still trying to keep them separated so they can move in. Meis is fighting off the shots aimed at himself while also trying to avoid the shots aimed at the ground between him and Gueira. He can’t risk being hit, but he also can’t risk getting too far away from Gueira, either. It’s a precarious balancing act, and Meis feels like he’s about to slip and fall.

As Meis watches the Freeze Force agents approach them, he realises that this could be the end. It really is beginning to look like they aren’t going to get out of this one. Meis isn’t going to abandon Gueira, even though he knows that that's his best shot at surviving. Meis isn’t going to leave the love of his life to die like this. If Gueira is going down, they’re going down together. And it really looks like that is about to happen. After everything, after surviving all that the world has thrown at them, they’re really going to die because they were caught unawares after a little routine scouting.

No one knows they’re out here. It’ll be hours before anyone realises that something might be wrong, and Meis and Gueira will be long gone by then. They’re going to die out here. Or, at the very least, they’re going to be captured, and what awaits them is probably a fate worse than death.

It all ends here.

Meis looks over at Gueira again. He still hasn’t told Gueira that he’s in love with him, or that he’s been in love with Gueira since the moment they first met, or even that Meis can see himself spending the rest of his life with Gueira.

Meis has so much that he wants to tell Gueira. He wants to tell Gueira that he loves the soft smile that Gueira gives him every morning when they wake up. Or that he loves the feel of Gueira’s skin against his own as they climb to orgasm together. Or that he loves the sound of Gueira’s voice when he’s yelling commands to the crew on missions. Or that he loves the taste and wetness of Gueira’s mouth against his own whenever they kiss. Or that Gueira is the only person that has ever made Meis feel like he has a home.

Meis can think of a million things that he wants to tell Gueira. And now, he might never get the chance. They might go to their graves without Gueira ever knowing just how much Meis loves him.

Something snaps at the thought of it. The pool of anger within Meis that, in recent years, has been nothing more than a gentle simmer, suddenly boils over. His rage pours out of him in an explosion of flame and heat. He screams, unleashing his power in a devastating wave that spreads out in every direction. His flames coil around him and him and Gueira, creating a protective barrier between them and the Freeze Force agents. Meis’ flames whirl around them for a moment before they explode outwards. Meis can’t see anything from inside the raging inferno, but he can feel the way that his flames lick at the armour of the Freeze Force agents. Had they been out of their armour, Meis doesn’t doubt that they would have been incinerated. There’s a little part of him that is very disappointed to have missed the opportunity. He wants to make them pay for what they've done to their people, for what they almost did to him today. He wants to make them hurt just as much as they have hurt the Burnish. They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, but Meis wants to serve it hot enough to boil flesh. 

Meis can hear the panicked shouts of the Freeze Force agents as they beat a hasty retreat. He pushes his flames to chase them as far as he can physically reach, until he can no longer sustain the amount of raw energy pouring out of his body and drops to his knees in exhaustion. It’s all over in less than a minute.

His flames continue to rage around them, but Meis doesn’t have the energy to call them back. They’re creating a useful barrier between them and whatever else might come across them, and it’s not like there’s anything out here that Meis wants to avoid burning. He thinks he can see glass forming where his flames scorch the ground, but he doesn’t care enough to stop it. 

Inside their little cocoon of fiery safety, the temperature has skyrocketed. The ice around Gueira is melting before Meis’ eyes, and he shuffles over to blast the ice with some more heat. They’ve never actually had the chance to free someone from Freeze Force ice like this before. Meis has no idea what sort of state Gueira might be in, but he can only deal with one problem at a time.

It only takes a few more seconds for Gueira to be freed, coughing and gasping.

“Oh, fuck, Gueira, are you okay?” Meis runs his hands frantically over Gueira’s face and chest.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Gueira pants. 

“I thought we were going to die, I thought I was going to lose you.” Meis is struggling to control the way that he’s gasping, the way that his breathing threatens to turn to hyperventilation at any moment. Even Gueira isn’t gasping as much as Meis is.

“Ha, you’re not going to get rid of me that easily,” Gueira laughs weakly.

Meis rests his head on Gueira’s chest and takes a moment to listen to his heartbeat. It’s strong and steady, if perhaps a little faster than it should be. It’s the most beautiful sound Meis has ever heard. It’s a reassuring sign that Gueira is okay, that he’s alive, that Meis isn’t going to lose him tonight.

Meis takes a moment to catch his breath against Gueira’s chest. That might just be the closest they’ve ever come to dying, and Meis can’t stop thinking about everything that had been running through his head. Meis doesn’t like to live with regret. He doesn’t want to die with regret, either. He has to tell Gueira how he feels. Meis can’t bear the thought of dying without Gueira knowing the truth. Meis sits up to look Gueira in the eye.

“I love you,” Meis says. “You don’t have to say it back, I just—”

“I love you, too.”

“—needed to tell you—what?”

“I love you, Meis.” Gueira didn’t hesitate the first time he said it, and he doesn’t hesitate now.

Meis stares down at Gueira. “You better not be fucking with me.”

“Meis! I’m being serious, I love you.”

“Well, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why didn’t _you_ say anything?” Gueira counters. “Also, you can’t be mean to me, I nearly died. This has been a very traumatic event for me.”

Meis rolls his eyes. He leans down to press a quick kiss to Gueira’s lips. “Okay, come on, we have to get the fuck out of here. I don’t know if they’re coming back.”

“How’d you get Freeze Force off us?” Gueira asks. Meis helps him to his feet and then gestures to the raging flames still raging around them.

“I got a bit mad.”

Gueira stares around at the devastation, open-mouthed. “Remind me to never make you angry.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t set you on fire. I might get a little more... _creative_ , instead.” Meis trails a hand down Gueira’s chest and stomach as he speaks, dipping his fingers briefly down the waist of Gueira’s pants before retreating.

Gueira’s face is a delightful shade of red. “Right. Okay. Yep.”

Meis chuckles and pulls Gueira in for a hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too, even when you are kind of terrifying.”

“Anyway, we need to go. I really don’t want to have to deal with Freeze Force again.”

They summon their armour and bikes again, and they’re off.

~...~

That night, Meis takes great delight showing Gueira just how much he loves him. He goes from head to toe, not skipping over a single patch of skin. Gueira emerges the next day covered in bruises and bite marks. They ignore the knowing looks that the other members of Mad Burnish give them. Meis loves his boyfriend, and he isn’t ashamed of it. Meis loves Gueira, and Gueira loves him right back. Apart from the odd near-death experience, life is good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gueira would make a good popsicle. I would lick that popsicle. 
> 
> Anyway.
> 
> Come [say hi on Twitter](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet) and let's all be thirsty for Promare stuff.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “By the time this is done, you’re going to be an expert,” Gueira promises. “Besides, it’s not like we’ll die of infection. As long as you don’t somehow manage to puncture a lung, I should be fine.”
> 
> “Thanks, darling, you’re really filling me with confidence here.”
> 
> Gueira leans forward to kiss Meis and then whisper into his ear. “If you stick around, that might not be the only thing I fill you with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is about tattoos! As such, there is mention of needles. It's not a huge amount, but just a heads up! 
> 
> Also, this is the absolute stupidest thing of all time, but I came up with the idea for Gueira's tattoo and was like "okay now let's make Meis' really lame because I think that would be funny" and that's that. It's so lame. I'm not even sorry.

The inspiration for Gueira’s tattoo strikes in every sense of the word. Meis and Gueira are out in a flat stretch of the desert, just the two of them. They’ve got a free afternoon, and they intend to have a little bit of fun in the form of sparring with swords. As far as weapons go, swords aren’t something they tend to use. The Burnish are only limited by their imagination in terms of the weapons that they can create, so swords are a little bit boring. Why bother a pointy stick when you could create literal towering monsters of fire and heat? 

Swords might be useless most of the time, but a stakes-free sparring session is always a good chance to let off some steam. They don’t get to spend a lot of time just enjoying themselves. As members of Mad Burnish, they have to spend the majority of their time planning and scavenging and running missions and collecting supplies. There’s just too much at stake to risk wasting any time.

But, from time to time, they do have to take a break. They're still human, after all. Meis isn't very good at giving himself breaks, and Gueira isn't much better. After a busy few weeks, the upper members of Mad Burnish force them to take an afternoon off. Meis and Gueira are unceremoniously banished from the day’s strategy meeting, and are instead given strict instructions to go and relax. Meis splutters and protests, but Gueira gives in and drags him away. He lures Meis out of camp with promises of a very rewarding night if he takes some time to unwind. And Meis is only human; he can’t resist an offer like that.

By the time they get out into the desert, there’s a storm rolling, and the deep rumble of thunder makes for a moody backdrop. Even though Meis is hardly an expert swordsman, and Gueira isn't any better, they’re having fun. Their armour stops them from doing any real damage to each other, and it gives Meis a chance to spend some time working on his hand-eye coordination. Meis misjudges a lot of shots, but Gueira has a knack for keeping him from getting frustrated with himself. It’s the most fun he’s had in a while.

“I’ll never let you at me booty!” Gueira shouts, giving the worst impression of a pirate Meis has ever heard. “A true captain never gives up his treasure!”

Meis laughs. “That’s not what you said when I was going at your booty last night!”

Gueira makes a sound halfway between an undignified squawk and a laugh.

Then, the lightning strikes.

When it hits, they’re standing a little bit apart. Gueira is up on the slope just above Meis, waving his sword around dramatically. Gueira raises his sword directly up into the air, and then everything explodes. It happens too fast for Meis to do anything. There’s a crash of thunder, so loud that it drowns everything else out and makes Meis’ ears feel like they’re about to explode. They’re enveloped in a painfully bright light, and Meis snaps his eyes shut. The light only lasts for a split second, but when Meis opens his eyes again, he can’t see a thing.

“Gueira?” Meis calls. It’s quiet. Meis rubs at his eyes, blinking rapidly as his eyesight slowly fades back in. He lets his armour melt away. Even the slight distortion from the helmet is making it hard to see. Once his sight returns, the first thing he notices is Gueira lying flat on the ground in front of him. He seems to be unconscious, and the ground around him is black and scorched, still smoking faintly. “ _Gueira!_ ” Meis stumbles forward on shaky legs. He drops down beside Gueira, sliding a hand over his chest. Gueira’s armour is gone, presumably shattered by the force of the lightning strike. Miraculously, he seems to be okay, at least physically. His hair might be a little frizzier than usual, but it certainly doesn’t look like he was just struck by lightning. If Meis hadn’t literally just seen it happen, he might assume Gueira was asleep. It wouldn’t be the strangest place Gueira had ever decided to take a nap.

“Gueira, fuck, please wake up,” Meis says, desperately looking for signs of life. Gueira is frighteningly still beneath him, but he isn’t dissolving into ash, so he must still be alive. Meis leans forward to listen to Gueira’s heartbeat. He can barely hear it over the pounding in his own chest, and it's scarily quiet, but it’s definitely there. Meis sits up again and runs his hand over Gueira’s forehead. “Come on, you dumbass. If you don’t wake up, I’m going to find a way to revive you so I can kill you myself."

As though roused by the threat in Meis’ words, Gueira coughs and then gasps for air, eyes flying open.

“Gueira? Oh my god, you’re okay, you’re okay,” Meis gasps, roughly brushing the tears out of his eyes. He hadn't even noticed that he had started crying. 

Gueira frowns up at Meis for a second, then he closes his eyes again and groans. “ _Ow_.”

Meis drops down onto Gueira’s chest to hug him tightly. “Only you would manage to get hit by lightning, you absolute moron.”

“Don’t call me names, I nearly died,” Gueira croaks.

“Yeah, well you really fucking scared me.” Meis’ entire body, including his voice, is still shaking. Honestly, he might be more shocked than Gueira about what just happened.

“I’m sorry I got struck by lightning and scared you,” Gueira says solemnly. To anyone else, his words might sound sarcastic, but Meis knows Gueira well enough to know when he’s being serious. “I’m okay. You don’t need to worry so much.”

“Of course I’m going to worry, you dumbass. You can’t die and leave me alone, that’s not allowed.”

“Still with the names! I almost died, Meis, you have to be nice to me for the rest of the day, at least.”

Despite himself, Meis laughs. “Yeah, yeah. Come on, sit up for me.”

Meis gets off Gueira and helps him sit up. Gueira’s arms tremble as he pushes himself up, but otherwise, he seems okay. Meis guides Gueira to lean against him and then presses a kiss to the side of his head. “If I can’t call you mean names, how about something cool?”

“It depends on how cool it is.”

“How about... ‘Gueira, tamer of the storm’?”

Gueira perks up at that. “I’m like Thor, but sexier. Sexier, and slightly more char-grilled.

Meis rolls his eyes fondly. “You’re such a nerd.”

“Sorry, I only answer to Gueira, Tamer of the Storm and Sexier Than Thor, now.”

“Yeah, I’m not calling you that. Come on, can you stand? We need to get you back to camp.”

Meis stands up and holds a hand out for Gueira. He reaches out shakily, and Meis gently pulls him to his feet. When Gueira tries to take a step, he immediately stumbles, and it’s only Meis’ support that keeps him upright.

“Do you want me to carry you back? I could probably do it in the armour.”

“Gueira, Tamer of the Storm and Sexier Than Thor appreciates the offer, but he can make it back to camp himself,” Gueira says, taking an unsteady step forward.

“If you start talking about yourself in the third person, I will leave you out here.”

“You wouldn’t dare, you love me too much,” Gueira says, looking outraged. Meis just raises an eyebrow, and Gueira immediately backtracks. “You know what? I am way too scared to call your bluff.”

“Good boy.”

Gueira blushes at that. “Stop bullying me; I just got hit by lightning.”

Meis helps him take another few steps forward. He’s still jerky and uncoordinated, and Meis wonders if Gueira would have even survived if he weren’t Burnish. Meis doesn’t want to spend too long thinking about the alternative.

“I wouldn’t dream of being mean to you after such a traumatic event.”

“You know, Tamer of the Storm and Sexier Than Thor has a nice ring to it. I should get it tattooed somewhere,” Gueira says. “You could get a matching one!”

Just the suggestion of getting a matching tattoo would have made a younger Meis want to throw up. But now, it doesn’t sound so bad. It’s almost romantic, even if Gueira’s suggestion for his own tattoo is, possibly, the worst thing Meis has heard in his entire life.

“How would we even get tattoos? It’s not like we can talk into a tattoo parlour. I'm not sure if you knew this, but we’ve got a bit of a reputation around here,” Meis says dryly.

“We could do them ourselves. I’ve given people stick and poke tattoos before. It’s easy, all we’d need is some ink and needles.”

Meis rolls his eyes. “Of course you’ve done stick and poke before.”

Gueira grins. “I’m a bad boy, and you love it.”

“Unfortunately, yes, I do,” Meis says, giving an overly dramatic sigh. “If you’re being serious, and this isn’t just your lightning-fried brain talking, what would my tattoo be?”

Gueira frowns and stares at Meis for a second. “God of blowjobs? Giver of love and orgasms? Best dick in the country?”

“Only the country?” Meis teases.

“Fine, the planet.”

“Alright, I see how it is.”

“Fine, the whole fucking _universe_ ,” Gueira huffs.

“Thank you. And I am not getting any of those tattooed anywhere on my body, before you get any ideas,” Meis warns.

Gueira groans. “Get me back to camp, I’ll have a nap, and then I’ll come up with something.”

“I don’t know whether to be excited or scared.”

Gueira leans in closer to Meis to whisper into his ear. “Be afraid. Be _very_ afraid.”

A shiver runs through Meis' body, and Gueira gives him a wicked grin. 

~...~

They don’t come up with an idea for Meis’ tattoo until a couple of weeks later. By then, they’ve managed to get their hands on some ink and needles, and they’re just waiting for inspiration.

This time, it doesn’t come in the form of a lightning strike. It’s so, _so_ much stupider. 

Meis and Gueira are out riding their bikes together when it happens. They’re just riding for fun, so they don’t bother with armour. There’s almost no danger of being ambushed by Freeze Force when they’re this far out of town, so they can enjoy the feel of the sun on their skin and breeze in their hair. They race across the dust and sand, chasing the wind and pretending that all is well in the world.

They’re riding side-by-side when they look over and grin at each other. Gueira looks good like this, smiling and laughing, and Meis wishes he could see Gueira like this more often. Gueira deserves to be happy. He’s made Meis the happiest man alive, and Meis wishes he could give him the same thing in return.

Meis’ daydreaming is interrupted as a huge gust of wind rushes over them, bringing a wave of dust and sand with it. And, since Meis isn’t wearing anything to protect his face, said dust and sand goes right into his eyes. He shuts them instinctively, momentarily forgetting that he’s riding a motorbike at a somewhat alarming speed. It's a fact that Meis is rudely reminded of when he hits something and then goes flying off his bike.

At this point, protecting himself from falls is second nature. His flames form a protective barrier around him as he hits the ground, staying with him until he comes to a stop. They dissolve, leaving a slightly startled Meis lying on the ground. 

“Meis! Are you okay?” Gueira skids to a stop beside him.

“Yeah, fine, just got shit in my eyes,” Meis says, blinking rapidly. He rubs his face. “Fuck, I hate sand. I'm so sick of the desert.”

“Tell me about it. Whenever I used to go to the beach as a kid, it would get in my hair and then be in there for fucking days,” Gueira grumbles. “If we ever go to the beach, you can kiss a comfortable, sand-free bed goodbye for at least a week.”

“Maybe if you actually washed it properly, it would be fine.”

“Look, everyone knows that shampoo is basically optional—”

“God, I hate you so much,” Meis groans.

“Aw, I love you too,” Gueira crouches down to kiss Meis’ forehead. “Come on, get up. It’ll take more than getting fucked up by Mother Nature to keep my sexy boyfriend down.”

Meis rolls his eyes as he gets up and dusts himself off. “So, Thor tried to kill you, and then Mother Nature tried to kill me.”

Gueira laughs. “Even the gods can’t keep us down! We’re unstoppable!”

Then, he stops, and frowns.

“What's wrong?” Meis asks. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m just thinking.”

“Would you like to share with the class?”

“Nope!” Gueira beams. “It’s going to be a surprise!”

Meis rolls his eyes. “Alright then, you have fun with that.” Meis has learnt that, if Gueira doesn’t want to share something, he won’t. There’s no point trying to force it out of him before he’s ready. “Shall we carry on?”

“Hell yeah! I still want to race you back; there’s no way you’re going to beat me this time.”

Meis smirks and summons his bike again. “You’re on.”

“I hope you’re not sick of dust, because you’re going to be eating mine!” Gueira crows.

~...~

Gueira comes to Meis a couple of days later with a piece of paper.

“Here!” Without any warning, Gueira thrusts the sheet into his face. “What do you think?”

Meis flinches back, then takes the paper and stares at it for a second. “Gueira, I hate to break it to you, but I can’t read this.”

“It’s the kanji for Raijin and Fūjin. They’re the Japanese gods of lightning and wind.”

“Right,” Meis says. “What is this for?”

“Our tattoos!”

Meis looks up at Gueira. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Okay, so, we’ve been talking about tattoos, right?" Gueira asks. "Well, the other day, some of the guys were talking about old folklore, and they were talking about Japanese gods like Raijin and Fūjin. It got me thinking; I've beaten lightning, and you've beaten wind. It's like we've conquered the gods. Getting a plain old Thor tattoo would just be tacky, but this, this is _cool!_ " 

“Okay, I get the part about you beating lightning. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that you got hit by lightning and just walked it off. But, please, do enlighten me as to how I beat the wind.”

“Remember when we went out racing last time? And you got sand in your eyes?”

Meis stares at Gueira for a second. “So, because I survived getting sand in my eyes, you think that counts as somehow defeating the wind, so I should get a tattoo of the Japanese god of wind?”

“Yeah! It’s cool, right? They’ve got meaning behind them, and they’ll make a pair!”

Meis chuckles. “It's a bit of a stretch, but I can see what you’re getting at.”

“Right? Honestly, Meis, I feel like that lightning hit a switch somewhere, I’m a fucking genius, now.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far—”

“Let me have my moment!”

“Of course, puppy. I don't know how I could be so insensitive.” 

"I guess you'll just have to make it up to me, somehow," Gueira sighs. 

Meis just rolls his eyes. 

~...~

The process of giving each other their tattoos is... interesting. Meis has never done anything like this before, and he’s terrified of screwing it up. He doesn’t want to be the reason that Gueira has to live with a ruined tattoo for the rest of his life. Gueira, on the other hand, is far more confident in his abilities.

“Babe, you’ll be fine. Seriously, don’t even worry. Even if you fuck it up, it’ll be a tattoo that _you_ gave me, so I’ll still love it.” Gueira assures him.

“Gueira, I think you’re forgetting that I don’t have the best hand-eye coordination,” Meis says. “There’s no way I’m not going to screw this up somehow.”

Gueira shrugs. “You could tattoo a dick on my forehead in my sleep, and I’d still love it.”

Meis sighs. He knows that, as with just about everything else, Gueira is too stubborn to let up on it. Were it anyone else, Meis would assume they were just trying to spare his feelings. But, since it’s Gueira, Meis can trust that he means what he says. Gueira might be a stubborn bastard who is always using 30% of his brain capacity to come up with jokes, but he’s always honest with Meis. 

“Okay. Fine. Can you at least do mine first, so I can see how to do it?” Meis asks.

“By the time this is done, you’re going to be an expert,” Gueira promises. “Besides, it’s not like we’ll die of infection. As long as you don’t somehow manage to puncture a lung, I should be fine.”

“Thanks, darling, you’re really filling me with confidence here.”

Gueira leans forward to kiss Meis and then whisper into his ear. “If you stick around, that might not be the only thing I fill you with.”

Meis shoves him away. “You’re terrible. Let’s just get these tattoos done, and _then_ you can be horny.”

“Aye aye, captain!”

Meis gets the tattoo on his left shoulder. He wants it to be somewhere that he can see it, and he almost never wears anything with sleeves, so it’s a good spot to show it off.

The act of having the tattoo done hurts more than Meis anticipated. While it’s definitely not the most painful thing that he’s ever experienced—being slashed in the face was a million times worse—it’s still not much fun. The Burnish heal quickly from injury, but that doesn’t mean they don’t hurt. They still feel the pain of everything. 

Gueira makes for a good distraction. Meis likes watching Gueira work. When he’s focused, he’s quiet, and it’s an odd contrast to his usual loud, fiery personality. And it’s not that Meis doesn’t like that about Gueira; rather, it’s quite the opposite. Meis _loves_ how bold and brash Gueira can be. He’s fun to rile up and mess with, and he’s never afraid to speak his mind. And yet, there’s just something about a calm, focused Gueira that Meis appreciates, too. It relaxes him, even when he’s being repeatedly stabbed in the shoulder.

It takes Gueira a couple of hours to finish Meis’ tattoo, and despite the constant pain, it’s surprisingly calming. Meis listens to Gueira explain what he’s doing, he listens to the way that Gueira breathes as he leans in closer to work on the details. It’s surprisingly intimate having all of Gueira’s attention on him like this.

“Okay, I think I’m done,” Gueira says, sitting back.

“Really?”

“Yeah, have a look.”

Gueira hands Meis the small hand-held mirror that they keep stashed with their toiletries. It’s cracked through the middle, but it’s better than nothing. Meis picks it up to get a good look at his tattoo. It’s definitely a bit wonky, and very clearly not done by a professional, but Meis falls in love with it in a heartbeat. This mark that Gueira has given him won’t fade like a bruise. If Meis looks after this tattoo, it could very well be on his body for the rest of his life.

For some reason, that thought makes Meis slightly emotional. He already knows that he wants to spend the rest of his life with Gueira, and he’s known this for a while. But this is the first time that he has ever had something physical to represent the permanence of that desire. It’s like a wedding ring, but _more_. He could lose a ring, but this is a mark etched into his very skin. This mark will be with him through every moment of every day; hopefully, just as Gueira will be.

“I love it,” Meis says softly.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Right, you ready to do mine, now?” Gueira asks.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Gueira strips off his shirt and settles down in front of Meis. “I want it right over my collarbone.”

“Won’t that hurt like a bitch?”

Gueira puffs up his chest. “Yeah, but I’m tough. And I’ve got my sexy boyfriend with me, so I’m not scared.”

Meis rolls his eyes. He’s still scared that he’s going to ruin it, but he’s less nervous now that his tattoo is done. It’s not perfect, and he still absolutely adores it. Perfection isn’t the point here. They aren’t here to make the world’s most flawless work of art. They’re here to make something that matters to them, something that symbolises their relationship. They might seem messy and maybe even a little bit tacky, but Meis wouldn’t have them any other way.

With that quiet reassurance for himself in mind, Meis gets to work. “I’m about to start, you ready?”

“Hell yeah, let’s fucking go!” Gueira cheers.

Meis leans forward and sticks the needle into Gueira’s skin. He’s trying to be as gentle as he can, but judging by the pained expression on Gueira’s face, and the way that Gueira’s hand is digging into his thigh, he isn’t succeeding.

“You okay?” Meis asks.

“Yep!” Gueira squeaks. “Never better!”

“I can stop if you—”

“Meis, please, for the love of all that is good and holy, just get it over and done with!”

And for a little while, Meis works his way through the tattoo. After a few minutes, Gueira starts flinching away from the needle each time Meis comes back with more ink. Each time he does it, Meis stabs somewhere he wasn’t supposed to stab, and Gueira is slowly being covered with more and more random little dots.

“Hold still!” Meis hisses.

“It _hurts_!” Gueira whines pathetically. Honestly, anyone would think Meis was trying to cut off a limb, not give Gueira a tattoo in a stupid place that he chose himself. 

“I fuck up every time you move, so cut it out!”

“I’m trying!”

“Well, try harder!”

Gueira nods and takes a deep breath in and out. “Okay, I got this.”

Meis approaches him with the needle again, and Gueira flinches.

“Okay, lie down.”

“What?” Gueira asks.

“Lie down.”

“Okay...” Gueira says, giving Meis a frown. He lies back and then grunts as Meis sits on his stomach.

“If you can’t sit still on your own, I’ll just have to make you sit still,” Meis says.

“You’re crushing me,” Gueira wheezes dramatically.

“Stop being such a baby, you’re fine,” Meis says. “I’m even skinnier than you are, quit complaining.”

Gueira slides his hands up Meis’ thighs. “Actually, you know what, I could get used to this.”

Meis huffs out a laugh and gets back to work. He can feel the way that Gueira keeps trying to flinch away from him but is stopped by Meis’ weight. Gueira keeps grimacing in pain, but he trails his hands up and down the bare skin of Meis’ thighs. They’re both just in their underwear, since Meis wisely pointed out that they probably didn’t want to risk getting ink on their clothes.

Now, Meis is beginning to regret that decision, just a little. Having Gueira underneath him, intently watching and sliding his hands along Meis’ skin isn’t doing anything to help Meis concentrate. He can feel the beginnings of arousal coiling in his stomach, and judging by the judging by the mischievous smile on Gueira’s face, he knows _exactly_ what he’s doing. But, despite Gueira’s attempts to distract him, Meis eventually finishes the tattoo. He climbs up and off Gueira, then hands him the mirror.

“There, have a look. All those weird dots are your own fault." 

Gueira takes the mirror and spends a while staring at himself, gently touching the hot, red skin around the tattoo. He looks back to Meis and smiles. “We look pretty fucking good, if I do say so myself.”

“Yeah, we do.”

“Can I suck you off now?”

Meis laughs. “Just make sure you swallow; I don’t think my spunk is going to help your tattoo heal any faster.”

“Baby, when have I ever not swallowed?” Gueira points out.

~...~

True to his word, Gueira doesn’t let even a single drop spill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thought of Gueira getting struck by lightning and being like "I'm like Thor, but char-grilled" is just for some reason the funniest thing my brain has ever come up with and I spent way too long laughing at that line. 
> 
> Anyway, [come say hi](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet) if you want more of my dumb sense of humour.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gueira nods where he’s curled into Meis’ chest. “That little twink is our best chance.”
> 
> “Don’t call him a twink,” Meis chides him.
> 
> “But he is! Look me in the eyes right now and tell me that Lio Fotia isn’t a twink. Come on, do it.”
> 
> Gueira looks up at Meis, and they stare at each other in silence.
> 
> Gueira huffs triumphantly. “I fucking thought so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRUMPET NOISES! HERE COMES LIO!!!! OUR SAVIOUR IS HERE!! 
> 
> Also, slight mention of beetles and a brief mention of blood/knives. And also of being disowned for being trans. All the fun stuff.

Mad Burnish spends the next couple of years trying to figure out what the Foresight Foundation is doing with the captured Burnish. Progress is painfully slow, and it makes Meis want to tear his hair out. They’re little more than a pain in the ass for Foresight and his Freeze Force, and they struggle to find any solid information. They hear whispers and rumours, but nothing certain. And the technology of Freeze Force just keeps getting better and better.

It makes everyone desperate; Meis especially. They need to do something to make a difference, but none of his plans ever really work out like they’re supposed to. They’re losing people to Freeze Force faster than they’re gaining them, and their numbers are beginning to dwindle. The stress of it all is wearing on everyone, but none more than Meis and Gueira.

Mad Burnish started out as a thing of convenience. It was nothing more than a group of people watching each other’s backs as they happened to pass through the same area. But the longer they spent together, the more it changed. The other members of Mad Burnish became like family to Meis and Gueira, and they can’t help feeling directly responsible for every death and capture. 

Sometimes, Meis feels like he’s drowning in it all. If he has to organise one more memorial for a fallen friend, he might just turn to ashes himself. They’re fighting a losing battle, and he can’t take much more of it. Even if he wanted to grab Gueira and run away from all of this, leaving Mad Burnish and Promepolis behind, they would never be free. Not really. Meis knows that he would never be free of the knowledge that he abandoned the Burnish here. And, as the leaders of Mad Burnish, the supposed biggest threat to Promepolis, Meis doesn’t doubt that Freeze Force would hunt them to the ends of the earth if they ever tried to just walk away.

Meis begins to realise that nowhere is truly safe. Even if they find a way to free the Burnish, they don’t actually have much of a plan for what to do next. Plus, Meis suspects that Foresight isn’t going to let the Burnish go without a fight. If they want to free the Burnish, they have to be prepared to sacrifice everything. And Meis knows that he would, if it really came down to it. He knows that Gueira would, too. They’ve come too far to let everyone down, but that doesn’t mean Meis isn’t scared of failure.

Meis lies awake at night listening to Gueira's breathing. Sometimes, Meis wishes that he wasn’t Burnish. If he hadn’t been cursed with this damn mutation, he wouldn’t be on the losing side of a war. He wouldn’t be responsible for sending his friends to their deaths. He wouldn’t feel death breathing down the back of his neck every moment of every day. 

But then Gueira stirs beside him, and Meis gently brushes his fingertips along his skin. If Meis had never become Burnish, he’d never have met Gueira, either. He’d never have known true friendship. He’d never have known a love this strong and passionate. And, most of the time, that’s enough to make Meis feel like it has all been worth it. Because for all the pain that being a leader of Mad Burnish brings, it also brings Gueira.

But sometimes, that just isn’t enough. When Meis is left clutching onto someone’s ashes as they dissolve into the breeze, or watching helplessly as Freeze Force takes more of their friends, it’s hard to be positive. It’s hard to be thankful for something that can hurt this much.

Then, one day, their luck changes.

It’s a routine supply run into the city. They head in, grab some supplies, and get out while the distraction team is doing their thing across town. They don’t encounter any Freeze Force agents, and when they catch up with the distraction team, they find out that Freeze Force didn’t turn up to stop them, either. That hasn’t ever happened before. When Mad Burnish rides into town, Freeze Force is ready and waiting. They never miss an opportunity to try and take down the “terrorists” threatening the city.

“We’re not going to go directly back to camp,” Meis calls to the group. “Something isn’t right, and I don’t want to lead Freeze Force right to our camp if we’re being followed.”

Gueira nods. “You heard him, let’s go!”

Meis and Gueira lead the crew away from the city and their camp. They head further into the desert, leaving a long trail of dust in their wake. The only sound is the roar of their bikes, and Meis shares a worried look with Gueira. They’ve never been able to get in and out of Promepolis without running into Freeze Force. They _always_ have to deal with them, and their complete lack of their presence is setting off every alarm bell in Meis’ head.

Once they’re a few miles from the city, and even further from camp, they pick a spot below a cliff face and wait out there for a couple of hours. If Freeze Force is going to ambush them, they want it to happen away from camp. They’ve got some of their best fighters with them, so Meis doesn’t think they’ll have any issues keeping Freeze Force at bay.

Meis and Gueira head up to the top of the cliff to keep watch. They sit close together, watching over the horizon, waiting for something to happen. They wait there for hours, but nothing happens. 

“Do you think we just got lucky?” Gueira asks.

Meis shrugs. “I don’t know. I was sure something was going to happen.”

“Me too, but we can’t stay out here forever. If we wait much longer, the heat is going to turn all of the food bad, and we’re just going to have to go back into the city for more.”

Meis sighs. “I know. Just... let’s wait a little bit longer, and then we can go. I need to be sure.”

Gueira nods, and then they’re quiet again. Meis drops his head onto Gueira’s shoulder and Gueira strokes a hand through his hair as they keep their eyes glued to the horizon. The ground shimmers beneath the heat, but everything stays quiet. 

“Let’s head back,” Gueira says. An hour has passed, and it’s just as uneventful now as it was when they first arrived. “We're probably due to pack up camp and move again, anyway. We’ll keep a couple of extra people on watch tonight, and we’ll be ready if anything happens.”

Meis nods and follows Gueira back down to the rest of the group. They tell everyone their plan, and then they start the trip back to camp. Meis leads the group, and Gueira trails behind. Gueira makes a better lookout, and Meis just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. He doesn’t like not having Gueira by his side, but they’ve got a better chance of spotting any incoming trouble like this. 

They’re pulling into camp when trouble arrives.

Meis hears a dull hum coming from somewhere behind them and looks up into the sky. It might just be a regular plane, but they’ll want to take cover anyway. They don't really want anyone to know that there are people living out here. Meis watches the plane for a moment and squints. It’s hard to tell, especially since it's so far away, but that doesn’t look like any plane that he’s ever seen before.

“Gueira!” Meis calls. “Come ‘ere.”

Gueira jogs over to him. “What’s up?”

“Do you see that?” Meis points to the spots moving over the horizon.

Gueira pauses. He squints. “Yeah. What the fuck is that?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to stick around to find out. I think we need to get out of here.”

Gueira nods and turns back to the camp. “Look alive, we’ve got trouble! Get your stuff, get ready to move!” He shouts. The camp explodes into a flurry of movement. Gueira looks back to Meis. “I need to help them, go grab our pack from our room.”

Meis runs into the building, weaving around the panicked scrambling of everyone else doing the same thing. Their bag sits by the mess of blankets that they call their bed, and Meis grabs everything he can reach and throws it in. He swings it over a shoulder and bolts back outside. Before he can make it, he hears the sound of screeching tyres, and then a scream.

Oh no.

Meis ditches the bag and sprints back outside, bursting into the sun and gasping as he takes in the scene before him. There are Freeze Force agents everywhere, and the air is filled with flying ice and fire. Meis looks around wildly, trying to find Gueira.

Then, he spots him, running towards a Freeze Force truck. Gueira slashes the tyres, then sends a spectacular wave of fire at the vehicle, ducking as it explodes. When that’s done, Gueira steps back and looks over the chaos around him, locking eyes with Meis. They stare at each other for a moment before there’s a crashing sound, and Meis’ back is covered in ice. He sees Gueira shout and start running towards him, and then he’s hit, too.

Meis looks around to face his attacker, but he can’t tell who fired the shot through the mess of people around him. Meis tries to melt the ice off, but it seems to expand and devour his fire as it pours over his body. With each attempt to heat it up, it just expands. Meis looks back over to Gueira, and to his horror, sees that he’s in a similar state. They share a panicked look. It’s like the day that Meis almost lost Gueira, except this time they might actually both be screwed. The other members of Mad Burnish are already struggling, and Freeze Force is rapidly closing in. Meis thinks he can hear Gueira shouting, but the blood is roaring in his ears and the shouts and screams of everyone around them are drowning Gueira out.

It’s all happening so quickly, and Meis can feel panic taking over his brain. He can’t think like this, and he definitely can’t fight, either. Unless someone does something in the next few seconds, this could be the end of Mad Burnish.

Just before the ice covers his head, Meis notices movement up on the cliff behind them. There’s dust, and then, a man on a Burnish motorbike. He’s not a member of Mad Burnish; he’s not even someone that Meis has ever seen before. The man doesn’t hesitate; he summons a bow and then begins firing at the scene below. The arrows hit the Freeze Force agents and explode, destroying their weapons in an instant. The Freeze Force agents turn their attention to him, but then he unleashes a powerful wave of fire. It surges through the group, melting the ice surrounding Meis and pushing Freeze Force back. The agents bolt, running from the power of this man’s fire.

Meis stumbles, dropping to his knees. He still feels sluggish and cold after being covered in so much ice, and it’s hard to get his body to respond. Gueira is behind him in an instant, steadying him as he tries to get back to his feet.

“What the fuck is happening?” Meis gasps.

“I don’t—”

A series of ice bullets hit the ground near them, and Gueira throws back a wave of fire without hesitating. Then, another huge wave of flames washes over them, this time staying between them and Freeze Force. Meis looks back up to the cliff to watch the man jump over the edge and use his flames to land neatly on the ground nearby. He’s tiny, and if Meis hadn’t just seen that incredible display of power, he might assume the man was a lost child.

“Come on, we’re getting out of here,” the stranger says.

“No the fuck we aren’t,” Gueira says. “Let’s incinerate these guys, they don’t stand a chance against us.”

“We’re not killing anyone,” the stranger says flatly.

“Hey, we’re just defending—”

“No.”

Gueira barely lets Meis talk to him like that, let alone some random guy that they’ve just met. Meis suspects that Gueira desperately wants to argue, but there’s something in this guy’s tone that suggests arguing would be a bad idea. Gueira glares at him for a moment before turning back to the rest of the crew. “Okay, we’re getting out of here. Get your asses into gear!”

By now, everyone has got the hang of summoning their own vehicles. A few people are too exhausted, or too injured, to bring their vehicle forth, and Meis makes sure they all catch a ride with someone who still can. Once they’re sure they’ve got everyone, Meis and Gueira lead Mad Burnish further into the desert, following a complete stranger who just saved them all from certain death. Meis looks back from his position on the back of Gueira’s bike, watching the powerful wall of flame vanish over the horizon. It’s still burning, even from this distance. Meis can’t see Freeze Force anymore. Either they’re stuck behind the flames, or they’ve just decided that it’s too much hassle to follow the Burnish further into the desert. Regardless, Meis still can’t quite believe what just happened.

They follow the newcomer up into the mountains, until they come out over a cliff that feels like it looks over the entire desert. Way out on the horizon, Meis thinks he can see a speck that might be Promepolis.

“Is everyone okay?” Gueira calls. They get nods and a few murmurs from the group. “Okay, we’re setting up camp here for the night, and we’ll figure out what we’re doing in the morning.”

People start shuffling around, trying to find the most comfortable patch of dirt to sleep on. They throw uneasy looks at Meis and Gueira as they stand with the stranger, and Meis can’t say he blames them. He still doesn’t entirely trust this guy, but he’s Burnish, and he just saved their lives, so he can’t be all that bad.

“What the hell was that?” Gueira demands.

The man’s lip quirks up into a smile. “Not even a thank you?”

“I don’t think—”

“Thank you,” Meis interrupts. “Really. We’d have been screwed without you.”

The man shrugs. “I wasn’t about to let you all be slaughtered, even if you are a bit of a nuisance.”

“A _nuisance_?” Gueira repeats.

“You’re making a bad name for the Burnish.”

“We’re doing what we can to help people,” Meis says. “It’s not like we can just politely ask them to stop killing us.”

“No, but you don’t have to be so aggressive, either.”

“Okay, enough of this, who the fuck are you?” Gueira asks.

“Lio,” the man says. “Lio Fotia.”

Meis and Gueira exchange a look. “You say that like we’re supposed to know who you are.”

Lio shrugs. “I’m not anyone important. You wouldn’t have heard of me.”

“For someone supposedly not important, you’re pretty fucking powerful,” Meis says.

Lio shrugs again. “I keep to myself.”

“So why help us? How did you even know where to find us?”

“I’ve been out in the desert for a little while, and I’ve been into the city. I’ve heard of you. I’ve seen you around. I saw Freeze Force fly in and thought I would check it out. I guess you’re lucky I did.”

“Yeah,” Gueira says slowly. “I guess.”

“So, what now?” Meis asks. “Are you joining Mad Burnish?”

“What, do you just let any random Burnish join?” Lio asks, the corner of his mouth curling into a small smile.

“No, but you’re not just any random old Burnish,” Meis says. “I think there’s more to you than you’re telling us, but I trust you. You could have kept out of the way and let us be wiped out, but you didn’t.”

“And if Meis trusts you, then I do,” Gueira says. “He’s a good judge of character. Nothing gets past him.”

“So, what, he’s the brains, and you’re the brawn?” Lio snorts.

Gueira grins. “How could you tell?”

“Don’t stroke his ego, it really doesn’t need it,” Meis says, rolling his eyes.

“I’ll give you something to stroke.”

“Save it for later, darling,” Meis says. Gueira splutters and goes a delightful shade of red.

“Anyway,” Lio says, “I’m going to go find the softest patch of dirt I can, and then I’m going to sleep. I’d offer to take the first watch, but I don’t think anyone here trusts me enough for that just yet.”

Meis hums in agreement. “Don’t take it personally. We don’t trust easily out here, no matter how powerful you are.”

“It’s fine. If I was in your situation, I wouldn’t trust me, either.”

“If you keep saving our asses like that, I think people might start warming up to you pretty quickly,” Gueira says.

“I really hope we don’t end up in another situation like that any time soon,” Meis says.

Lio nods. “You guys are a nuisance, but I don’t actually want you dead.”

“Thanks,” Gueira says dryly. “Good to know.”

Meis fights back a yawn. “You two should get some rest. I’ll take the first watch.”

Gueira frowns, but he knows better than to argue with Meis about watches by now. “Fine. But I’m next. Wake me in an hour.”

And Meis knows better than to argue with Gueira. “Of course.” Meis looks back at Lio. “Get some sleep; we’ll figure out the plan in the morning.”

Lio just nods and makes his way over to the rocky wall behind them. Meis watches him settle in against a rock, sweeping smaller stones out from underneath him. Had Meis not just witnessed his impressive show of power, he might even describe him as delicate. The heat radiating off him has faded now that he’s more than a few metres away, but up close, Lio might burn even hotter than Gueira.

“So, you really think we can trust him?” Gueira asks quietly. 

Meis shrugs. “I guess. I don’t think he’s about to rat us out to Freeze Force, but it is kind of weird that he just showed up like that. I think we’re going to need to keep an eye on him for a little while, at the very least.”

Gueira nods. “No revealing all our secrets to the new guy, got it.”

“Anyway, you need to go to sleep. I can see you trying not to yawn.”

“Well, then you need to sit down. I need my Meisie pillow.”

Meis rolls his eyes. “You’re going to get a sore neck if you use my thigh as a pillow again.”

“Worth it.”

“You’re a dumbass.”

“You love me,” Gueira says smugly.

Meis sighs heavily. “Yeah, I do.”

~...~

The next day, they send a team to go back to their old base and gather anything left behind. They come back with a few bits and pieces, but nothing substantial. Apparently, very little survived the skirmish with Freeze Force. Meis isn’t thrilled, but he’s not too worried. They’ve survived with far less in the past, and they’re better at managing their resources now. They’ll make do.

They spend a couple of days wandering the desert, looking for another spot to set up their base again. Eventually, they come across a small collection of abandoned houses that look like they haven’t seen human habitation in years. At first, it’s just supposed to be temporary, but they’re still in the same place months later.

For the first few weeks, Lio keeps largely to himself. He doesn’t go out of his way to avoid spending time with the other members of Mad Burnish outside of missions, but he doesn’t seek company out, either. Meis watches him closely, looking for any sign that he might not be the ally that he seems. But the months go by, and Lio has been nothing but fiercely loyal. Meis finds himself becoming rather fond of Lio. He’s clever and has a sharp sense of humour. He’s not afraid to call Meis or Gueira out when they do something stupid, and he has a good mind for strategy. Soon, he becomes an integral part of Meis’ planning and strategy sessions. Neither Meis nor Gueira was looking for another leader of Mad Burnish, but it seems they’ve found one. And, it seems, a friend.

The other members of Mad Burnish are, at first, a bit apprehensive of Lio. And understandably so. It’s not like anyone has any idea who he was before he showed up. And out here, trusting the wrong person can be a death sentence.

But there’s just _something_ about Lio that makes Meis feel safe. It’s hard to explain, but it’s the same kind of feeling that made him want to go sit beside Gueira in that bar, all those years ago. Both Gueira and Lio are obviously very powerful, and within minutes of Meis first meeting each of them, they’d put themselves in harm’s way to protect someone else. Even the world’s biggest idiot would be able to tell that that was a good sign.

Still, it takes a little while for Lio to really begin opening up to them. For the first few weeks, it’s rare to see him smile or laugh. Meis catches him awake at weird hours of the night, and he’s tense and jumpy on missions. But, after some time, he seems to really relax, and the difference is like night and day. He teases Meis and Gueira constantly, and Gueira takes great delight in having someone else to mess with. When Lio joins Gueira and Meis on their rounds, he’ll stop to play games with the kids and let them win without them realising that’s what he’s doing. He takes the time to learn everyone’s names, and he’ll stop to catch up with them whenever he can. It’s obvious that, even though he’s only been here for a little while, he really does care about these people. His quick rise to power never goes to his head, and it’s clear that Lio is a good person, not just a good leader.

Lio becomes Meis and Gueira’s best friend long before he becomes their leader. They come to know him better than anyone else in the camp, and soon the three of them are inseparable. They’re together at all hours of the day, and sometimes even during the night. It’s not uncommon for Lio to sneak into bed with Meis and Gueira in the early hours of the morning after having a nightmare. Lio doesn’t even seem to mind the fact that Gueira always sleeps naked, even when he knows Lio will probably come to visit. What’s a little casual nudity between friends?

Sometimes, Meis feels like he doesn’t know much about Lio, even though they’ve been friends for months. He’s their boss, and their best friend, but Lio usually won’t talk about himself unless he’s answering a direct question. Meis doesn’t think it’s due to a lack of trust, but rather a lack of ego. Lio certainly has plenty that he could boast about; he’s extraordinarily powerful, and he’s the leader of Mad Burnish. He could easily be the world’s biggest asshole, but Lio is never anything but respectful. He listens to others before he says anything himself, and Meis certainly has to commend how well that approach has helped him fit seamlessly into Mad Burnish. It does, however, make it hard for Meis and Gueira to learn much about Lio’s time before he joined them. So, one night, Meis decides to ask him. 

It’s just the three of them, sitting a little way outside of camp. They’re watching the crackling flames of a small campfire rise up into the night sky. They don’t need the campfire to keep warm, they produce enough heat themselves, but there’s something reassuring about the warmth and noise of it.

“What was your life like before all of this?” Meis asks.

Lio shrugs. “I was just a normal kid. My first flare happened at home, and my mother told me that I would have to keep it a secret, or they’d take me away. I spent _years_ trying to force it down. But you know the flames, they don’t like that. I was only sixteen when it just became too much for me to control. I took out a whole building and killed everyone inside.” Lio shudders. “It was just an accident. But I knew they’d never know that, so I ran away. I don’t know what happened to my mother. I don’t even know if she’s still alive.”

Gueira shifts over to sit on Lio’s other side, and Meis presses up against his left.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to—”

“No, it’s okay. I wouldn’t talk about it if I didn’t want to. I know it’s not the nicest story to have to listen to.”

“It’s okay. It’s like me and my eye. It’s not a nice story, either.”

Lio hums. “I wondered. But I didn’t want to pry.”

Meis shrugs. “It’s fine. It happened a long time ago. I was around fifteen, I think. I didn’t have many friends to start with, and then I got on the wrong side of some kids who were a couple of years older than me. It’s stupid, really.” Meis laughs, but it’s a bitter, empty sound. “I stopped them from stepping on a beetle. They were just going to squash it, just because they could. I told them to get fucked, and then they jumped me after school. I didn’t realise they had a knife until suddenly everything hurt and I couldn’t see through the blood.”

“That’s my man, the protector of the innocent,” Gueira says fondly.

Lio smiles. “You lost your eye because you were trying to save a beetle.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s really fucking stupid.”

“No, no. It makes sense. I mean, you’re here, trying to protect the Burnish. You’re trying to save the people that can’t save themselves, and you’re putting yourself in a huge amount of danger to do so. I think it’s brave,” Lio says.

Meis can feel himself blushing. “Thanks.”

“Meis is terrible at accepting compliments, don’t take it personally,” Gueira says.

“What about you, Gueira?” Lio asks. “Are you the only one out of us to have had a slightly normal life before all of this?”

“I mean, not really. I got disowned right before I turned seventeen because I came out as trans. I told my parents that I was a guy and that I wanted to go by Gueira, and they told me they would only ever have a daughter. So, that was it for me. I ran the fuck out of there and never looked back. I managed to get on hormones and then I changed my name the second I turned eighteen. And then I became Burnish a little bit after that.”

“And we met after we’d both been Burnish for about a month,” Meis says.

Lio smiles. “You guys are lucky to have found each other. I’d have killed for some company on the road other than my flames.” He pauses, then shifts slightly. “Do they... talk to you guys, too?”

“Yeah. Most of the time it’s just whispers, but they get louder when I haven’t burnt in a while,” Meis says.

Gueira nods. “It’s pretty much the same for me.”

“Mine have been loud since the moment I became Burnish. I feel like it’s probably because I spent years trying to repress them. They were so loud on the night when I burnt down that building. I just... I can’t let myself do that again. Or anyone else. We aren’t killers. I wish everyone else could see that.” By the time Lio has finished, he’s barely speaking above a whisper. He brushes his face roughly with his arm, and Meis sees it come away wet with tears.

Gueira throws an arm around Lio. “We’ve got you now, boss. We’re going to make things better. We’re going to save everyone, and then we can start a new life for ourselves. It’s going to get better.”

“Besides,” Meis says, “we’ve got you now. Freeze Force is no match for us. We’re going to save them. We’re going to save everyone.”

Lio smiles. “Yeah. We are. Thank you, both of you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d probably still be running around the desert by yourself, being all sad and lonely.”

“Gueira!”

“What? He asked!”

Meis huffs and rolls his eyes as Lio laughs at them. 

~...~

Lio takes over the leadership of Mad Burnish smoothly and painlessly. Meis isn’t sure what Lio was doing before this, but it’s clear that he was born to be a leader. Lio can pump up a crowd without breaking a sweat, he’s calm even when their back-up plan’s back-up plan falls apart, and he has a mind for strategy like Meis has never seen. Of course, he still consults Meis and Gueira on almost everything, and he delegates a good chunk of his duties to them. They might not have the same natural aptitude for leadership that Lio does, but they’re not complete idiots. They’d been running Mad Burnish for years before he showed up; they know what they’re doing, and they’re pretty damn good at it.

Still, it’s clear that Lio was born to lead Mad Burnish. And if anyone is going to save the Burnish, it will be Lio Fotia. Meis brings it up with Gueira late one night after Lio has been the leader of Mad Burnish for a few weeks.

“I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever actually figure out how to save the Burnish. But with Lio, I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘if’ anymore.”

Gueira nods where he’s curled into Meis’ chest. “That little twink is our best chance.”

“Don’t call him a twink,” Meis chides him.

“But he is! Look me in the eyes right now and tell me that Lio Fotia isn’t a twink. Come on, do it.”

Gueira looks up at Meis, and they stare at each other in silence.

Gueira huffs triumphantly. “I fucking thought so.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Meis says, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “That twink has given us more hope than I think we’ve had in a very long time.”

“He really has.”

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Meis asks.

“Well, I’m thinking a couple of things, actually.”

“Wow, two thoughts? All at once? Careful, Gueira, you’ll hurt yourself.”

Gueira gives him a light smack. “Fuck off. What are you thinking about?”

“Lio needs to be the priority. If it comes down to it, we have to make sure he survives. I certainly didn’t come this far to die, but he _has_ to live.”

Gueira sighs and nods. “Yeah, I was thinking that, too.”

“The boss has to live. If everything else fails, he’ll be our only hope.”

“And we aren’t going to tell him about this, right?” Gueira checks.

“Definitely not. Let’s not make the alarmingly powerful leader of Mad Burnish an actual mad Burnish, shall we?”

“I knew there was a reason everyone assumes you’re the smart one in this relationship.”

“People don’t assume it, it’s just a fact.” Meis pauses. “What was the other thing you were thinking about?”

Gueira grins. That grin is never a good sign. “Lio’s ass looks fucking _amazing_ in leather.”

Meis groans. “I want to be mad at you for checking out someone else’s ass, but you’re so goddamn right.”

“Right? Like, he turns around, and it’s just _ass_. Look, we both know that I’m the bottom to end all bottoms, but even I’d like to get a piece of that.”

“Shall we add Lio to the list?” Meis offers.

‘The list’ is a little joke that he and Gueira share. Well, it started out as a joke, but over time it slowly became less and less of a joke. It’s not even particularly funny. It’s literally just a list of people that, should one of them get the chance, they have permission to sleep with. As long as they’ve talked about it beforehand and both agree, anyone on the list is fair game.

They have yet to sleep with anyone on the list. It could happen. Maybe. You never know. Meis likes to think it could happen. Some day. 

Gueira gives Meis the biggest puppy-dog eyes in the history of the universe. “Can we? Really?”

“Yeah. I’d watch you get a piece of that ass, any day of the week.”

Gueira lets out a shout of excitement and nearly punches Meis in the chin when he does a little fist pump into the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet) if you want to see me retweeting lots of horny content and oversharing details about my personal life.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gueira hums. “Hey, Meis?”
> 
> “Yeah?”
> 
> “Wanna get married so we can be super disgusting and call each other 'husband' every chance we get?”
> 
> Meis bursts out laughing. “That might be the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me. Yeah, why the fuck not? That sounds great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CAN YOU HEAR THAT? WEDDING BELLS? Yes, the time has finally come. 
> 
> There is a lot of alcohol consumed here, as well as mentions of throwing up. And the boys get hungover. And they also do tattoos again because for some goddamn reason everything I post at the moment has to do with tattoos.

Meis and Gueira get married for the first time about a year after Lio takes over Mad Burnish. Lio is actually the one who suggests the idea of marriage to them. It first comes up when they’re out watching the stars. The desert is silent, and the stars shine brightly without having to compete with the unnatural glow of civilisation. The clear weather means they get a perfect view into the endless night sky above them. 

Some nights they sit in silence, leaning up against each other as they enjoy the warmth of each other’s bodies in the face of the cold desert night. On other nights, they’ll talk about anything and everything, their raucous laughter shattering the peace of the night around them. Either way, it’s a good way to relax after a long day of being wanted terrorists.

“Meis, you need to put on a jacket,” Gueira says. “Your bare shoulders are making me cold.”

“We don’t get cold, Gueira,” Meis huffs. “I don’t need a jacket.”

“You own a perfectly nice leather jacket. I’ve seen it; you can’t pretend it doesn't exist!” 

“You gave me that jacket, you dipshit. Of course I know it exists.”

“Right! So you should appreciate my loving gift by wearing it more often.”

“I don’t want it to get damaged, and _I don’t get cold_. If I wear it, I might wreck it. And besides, you like seeing me in singlets. Don’t even try to deny it.”

“Okay, yes, I do, but—”

“You two argue like an old married couple,” Lio interrupts. 

“We’re not old!” Gueira protests.

“And we’re not married, either.”

“Why not?” Lio asks.

Meis opens his mouth to respond, but then stops. He looks over at Gueira, who stares blankly back. That’s actually a very good question. Why _aren’t_ they married? For all intents and purposes, they kind of already are. They’ve got matching tattoos, and they’ve spent every moment of their lives together since they met. They know every little thing about each other, and if death wasn’t waiting for them around every corner, Meis would be able to say with certainty that he was going to enjoy a long and happy life with Gueira.

“Honestly," Meis says, "it hadn’t really occurred to me. It’s not like we can just walk into a church and say we want to get married.”

“Well, no, but you could do something ceremonial,” Lio points out. “Even if it’s not technically a legal marriage, that doesn’t make it any less legitimate. At least for us.”

Gueira hums. “Hey, Meis?”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna get married so we can be super disgusting and call each other 'husband' every chance we get?”

Meis bursts out laughing. “That might be the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me. Yeah, why the fuck not? That sounds great.”

Gueira lets out a loud whoop and throws his arms around Meis. “I’m going to be the best trophy husband you’ve ever had.”

“Why are you the trophy husband? I’m clearly the better-looking one.”

Gueira snorts, and then they both look over at Lio, who laughs and shakes his head. “Nope, I am _not_ getting involved in this.”

“ _Boss_ , just tell us who’s prettier,” Gueira whines.

“Come on, boss, don’t you love us?”

“You’re both the worst,” Lio says flatly.

Gueira laughs and throws his other arm over Lio, dragging him in close. “We love you too, boss!”

Lio splutters and complains as he gets dragged into the hug, but Meis definitely catches a glimpse of a smile in there.

~...~

Meis and Gueira start discussing the details of a wedding later that night. They’re curled up in bed together, as they seem to be during most of their important conversations. Meis is lying on his back, and Gueira is sprawled on top of him, head resting against Meis’ chest. Meis gently threads his fingers through the mess of Gueira’s hair.

“Okay, so, we’re getting married. What do you want to do?” Meis asks.

“Honestly, I don’t really want that big of a fuss. We could go over our tattoos again; they’re probably the closest thing we’re ever going to get to wedding rings.”

“I like that,” Meis says. “Do you want an actual ceremony with other people?”

Gueira hums, then is quiet for a moment. “Maybe? I mean, I don’t really want heaps of people there. I don’t think I need to declare my love for you in front of a whole crowd. I mean, I like showing you off, but I don’t think we need to make a big deal out of it.”

Meis smiles. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Why don’t we just get some alcohol, touch up our tattoos, and then get drunk with Lio?”

“We’re going to need _a lot_ of alcohol for that.”

“Only if you get the really low percentage stuff. If we can get something with a high alcohol content, we should be good.”

Gueira laughs. “So our wedding is going to consist of tattoos and then drinking ourselves into a coma?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“You know, if you wanted to get me a wedding gift, that pet snake—”

“ _No_.”

~...~

Preparations only take a couple of weeks. They steal some alcohol on a trip into town, and Meis quietly gets his hands on a surprise gift for Gueira. He’s pretty sure that the grooms aren’t supposed to get each other gifts, but he wants to make it a little bit more special than just a night of alcohol and tattoos. If he can’t give Gueira a proper wedding, he can at least give him this.

At first, though, Meis isn’t sure what he wants to get Gueira. It’s easiest to travel light, so everyone keeps material possessions to a minimum. Meis doesn’t want to get something that’ll bog them down, so it has to be practical, but not _too_ practical. A pack of socks isn’t a very romantic wedding gift. Although, Meis has to admit, it would be pretty funny to watch Gueira open his present of socks and then pretend to be excited about it.

It isn’t until a couple of days before the night they’ve planned to have their “wedding” that inspiration strikes in the most unfortunate of ways. They’re going through an old building out in the middle of nowhere when Gueira’s favourite jacket gets caught on an exposed piece of metal in the wall and immediately tears in half.

Gueira threatens to pre-emptively divorce Meis if he ever tells anyone how long he spent crying about it.

Gueira is too busy running Mad Burnish to go out and find a replacement jacket, and so Meis recognises his opportunity. A new jacket is the perfect gift! Practical, but not boring. It won’t bog them down, and it’s something that Meis knows Gueira desperately wants. And best of all, it’s not a goddamn snake.

Meis breaks away from a supply run a couple of days before the big day to do some ‘shopping’. The jacket he finds is _perfect_. It’s nothing fancy, but the silver studs on the front and sides will add just the sort of flair that Gueira loves. It’s nothing too flashy, but still unique.

Once Meis has acquired (stolen) the jacket, he faces the issue of how he’s going to keep it a secret for the next couple of days. Meis and Gueira don’t have much stuff between them, and they keep all of their belongings together. It’d be way too easy for Gueira to stumble across it accidentally, and Meis wants to keep this a surprise. 

“Boss, can I ask a favour?”

Lio narrows his eyes suspiciously. “Okay...”

“It’s nothing bad, I promise. I just need you to keep this jacket for a couple of days. It’s for Gueira, and I want it to be a surprise.”

Lio laughs. “Yeah, of course.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Lio.”

“I’ll tell you later,” Lio says. “Now, get. I want to look over these schematics in peace.”

Meis is almost certain that Lio is hiding something from him. For now, he’ll let it slide. He can always get Gueira to help him force it out of Lio later.

~...~

The evening that they pick for their wedding turns out to be cool and clear; the perfect weather for a night out. They set up a little bonfire on a hill above the camp. From up here, they can see for miles. The stars are out, and the fire gives enough light for Meis and Gueira to work on each other’s tattoos.

Meis gets Lio to bring the alcohol and Gueira’s jacket. Lio puts everything into a box so he can hide the jacket until it’s time to give it to Gueira. If Gueira notices that the box is a bit bigger than something they’d need to carry a few bottles of alcohol, he doesn’t say anything.

Lio starts drinking before them. As keen as Meis is to get this party started, he doesn’t want to ruin Gueira’s already questionable tattoo with his drunken attempts to be precise. It’s already only just sitting on the endearing side of homemade. Any messier, and it’ll just look janky.

Gueira is just as squirmy this time around, and _again_ Meis has to resort to sitting on him to get him to hold still. For all the pained looks that Gueira is giving him, he seems to be enjoying himself between Meis’ thighs.

“I can’t believe you guys got matching tattoos but didn’t think to get married,” Lio chuckles. “You’re both disasters.”

“Hey, stop bullying my fiancée, he tries his best,” Meis says. Gueira beams up at him between grimaces of pain.

“Yeah, boss, you’re just jealous that you don’t get to enjoy a piece of this ass,” Gueira reaches around to give the aforementioned part of Meis’ body a squeeze.

“I feel like I spend enough time listening to you guys enjoying each other’s asses as it is, thank you very much.”

Meis laughs. “I told you he could hear us!”

“I can’t help being loud! It’s how you know I’m enjoying myself!”

Lio scoffs. “I think the whole camp knows when you’re enjoying yourself.”

Gueira groans.

“I love it when you’re noisy, babe,” Meis says. He leans down to give Gueira a quick kiss on the forehead. “You can be as loud as you want.”

“No!” Lio protests. “He most certainly cannot be as loud as he wants!”

Meis and Gueira both laugh at that.

“So, if we’re using tattoos as replacement wedding rings, does that not mean we’re already married?” Gueira asks. 

“The first ones could have been engagement rings. We were just trying them out, seeing if we’d like them. Now, we know we do, and we’re just reaffirming our commitment again.”

Gueira makes a quick grunt of pain as Meis stabs him again. “I like that. Even if it is disgustingly sappy.”

Meis ignores that last part. “You know, I never did really thank you for taking that punch for me.”

“From when we met?”

“Yeah. Did I ever tell you that that’s how I knew I was in love with you?”

Gueira scoffs. “You’d known me for all of two minutes by that point. There was no way you were in love with me.”

“Don’t argue with me, or I’ll stab you,” Meis threatens. “I don’t know, it was just the way that you noticed that I wouldn’t see the guy on my side, and you didn’t make a big fuss about it. You were ready to get punched in the face for someone you literally just met. No one else would have done that for me.”

Gueira slides his hands over Meis’ thighs. “Meis, I would get punched in the face for you every day for the rest of my life.”

Meis laughs. “Stop; you’re going to make me cry.”

“I’m the one getting stabbed! I should be the one crying!” Gueira protests.

“I’m sorry, but why the hell did someone try to punch you when you two first met?” Lio asks suddenly. Meis jumps slightly; he had almost forgotten Lio was there.

“We pissed some guys off in a bar for being gay,” Gueira chuckles.

Lio throws his head back and laughs. “So you started a bar fight right after meeting each other? You two really are disasters, honestly.” He takes another swig from his bottle.

“If we ever get married for real, we should have Tequila Sunrises at the reception,” Gueira says. “That and nothing else. We’ll drink alcohol and get absolutely smashed, and then record all the attempts at dancing for future blackmail material.”

“You’re diabolical,” Meis laughs. He gives Gueira’s cheek a gentle caress. “Never change.”

Gueira gives him a wink, and then Meis returns to his work. He rather likes the idea of having tattoos instead of wedding rings. A tattoo has more permanence than a piece of metal. And, it being etched into his skin means that the tattoo will go with him when he dies. Meis doesn’t exactly relish the thought of dying any time soon, but he likes the thought of going with his promise to love Gueira. That’s not something that he can get rid of like a piece of jewellery. His love for Gueira is just as much a part of him as a limb or an organ is. The dramatic nature of the comparison makes Meis smile, and Gueira smiles back up at him, even though he has no way of knowing what Meis is thinking about.

Meis adds a last few touches to the tattoo, and then it’s done. Gueira’s skin is red and inflamed like last time, but otherwise, it looks good. Meis can see the faded lines of the original tattoo beneath this one. The new tattoo so much cleaner, and there are fewer random blots as the result of Gueira flinching away from the pain. 

The sight of the tattoo makes Meis slightly emotional. It's more than just a mark; it's a signal of his devotion to the beautiful man lying below him. Now, not just a man, but also Meis' husband. His husband. His _husband_. That’s not something Meis thought he’d ever get to say, but here he is. 

“Okay, you’re done.” Meis slides off of Gueira and helps him sit up.

“Wow,” Lio quips. “It actually looks somewhat decent!” 

“We could give you one, boss. Meis and I are practically experts at this point.”

Lio snorts. “I’ve always wanted a tattoo on my ass.”

That gets Gueira’s attention. “Really? We could do that!”

“Gueira, he’s taking the piss.”

Meis and Lio laugh at the outraged look on Gueira’s face.

“Okay, okay, you’ve had your fun, quit laughing at me! Meis, get your sexy ass over here, it’s time to do your tattoo.”

Since Meis is wearing his trademark singlet, Gueira has easy access to his arm. It’s not as painful as Meis remembers, but then he is getting it on the meat of his shoulder. He doesn’t even want to imagine what it must be like for Gueira to get his tattoo done over his collarbone. Especially being as bony as he is; Gueira has absolutely no natural cushioning at all.

“You want to know when I knew I was in love with you?” Gueira asks.

“What, it wasn’t the second you laid eyes on me?”

Gueira chuckles. “No, not quite. It was actually when you let me see your scar properly for the first time.”

“What, really?”

“Yeah. It obviously bothered you, and I know it still does, but you let me look at it and touch it. I thought it was really brave. Especially since we barely knew each other.”

Meis shrugs, earning himself a quick warning smack from Gueira. “I mean, I could tell you weren’t going to be an asshole about it. It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“Well, it was for me. I was really proud of you. I’m still really proud of you.”

Meis is glad he’s facing away from the fire, so it’s harder for anyone to see him blush. “Thank you.”

“Hey, Meis?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re my husband." 

Meis soaks up the way that Gueira beams at him. “We can be so disgusting about this now. I’m never going to call you your name ever again. You will only ever be my husband.”

Lio makes an exaggerated gagging sound. “Please, for the love of all things good and holy, do _not_ start doing that.”

“I’ll go to my grave calling you boss,” Gueira threatens. “Do not think I won’t do the same with my husband.”

Lio groans. “Literally no one else calls me boss. It’s just you two. Did you know someone told me that it was inappropriate for us to be bringing our roleplay out of the bedroom?”

Meis and Gueira roar with laughter.

“Oh my god, that’s fucking priceless,” Meis chortles.

“Please tell me who it was, I’m going to steal them something nice the next time we go into town.”

“No! We are not encouraging this!” Lio practically shrieks.

Gueira and Meis laugh at the outrage in Lio's voice, then settle into a comfortable silence as Gueira works. He finishes Meis’ tattoo significantly faster than Meis finished his. Meis likes to think it has more to do with the fact that Meis doesn’t have to be pinned down to keep still, and less to do with Gueira’s skill as a tattoo artist.

“Okay, you’re good to go.” Gueira pats him on his other shoulder.

“Should we, I don’t know, say some vows?” Meis asks.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Something about sickness and health? For richer or poorer?”

Gueira chuckles. “We can’t possibly get any poorer. If we were any sicker, we’d be dead.”

“Well then, it can only get better from here, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Gueira smiles. “I love you, Meis. So much. I can’t give you a big fancy wedding, but I can be here to promise you that I’m going to be by your side for the rest of my life. You and me, we’re a team. And there ain’t nothing that anyone can do about it.”

Meis looks at Gueira, then down at his arm, and before he knows it, he’s crying. Gueira pulls him into a hug, taking care to avoid his collarbone and Meis’ shoulder.

“You sap,” Gueira says fondly.

“Don’t be mean to me; I’m your husband.”

“Damn right, you are. The best husband I’ve ever had.”

Meis laughs wetly. “How many other husbands have there been?”

“Just you. But even if I’d had a million other husbands, you’d still be the best one.”

“Stop making me cry!”

“It’s okay, baby, weddings make people emotional, let it all out,” Gueira teases.

Meis laughs and presses his face into Gueira’s neck. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Gueira sits back and holds his hand out, and Meis does the same. They’d talked about this beforehand, and it’s definitely the perfect finishing touch for a make-shift wedding.

They summon their flames at the same time. They rush forward to mingle with each other, before shooting up into the sky. The Burnish have all realised that, to some degree, they can hear their flames speak to them. In some, it’s barely a whisper. But in others, it’s a roar that is almost impossible to drown out. Meis’s flames can be a bit unbearable at times, but are usually relatively quiet, and Gueira says his are the same. Lio isn’t quite as lucky, and his flames are usually painfully loud by default. Occasionally, he’ll climb into Meis and Gueira’s bed at night when the noise is too much to handle, and they’ll distract him by telling stories and massaging his scalp.

When Meis and Gueira combine their flames like this, it’s like getting a glimpse into each other’s heads. There’s nowhere to hide; not that Meis would want to, anyway. Gueira is the one person from whom Meis has never felt like he’s needed to hide. Physically and mentally, Meis can bare himself completely, and Gueira would never make him feel ashamed of anything. 

Their flames separate and fade away, and then Meis leans forward to kiss Gueira quickly. He strokes Gueira’s face and then leans back to look at Lio. “Chuck me the thing?” Meis asks.

Lio rummages around in the box and hands Meis the jacket.

“Okay, I know you were probably joking about wedding gifts, but I wanted to get you something anyway.”

Gueira laughs. “Wait, did you get something for me and then rope Lio into holding onto it so it would stay a secret?”

“What? How the hell did you know?”

“Because I might have done exactly the same thing.”

“You two are lucky I’m good at keeping things to myself,” Lio says.

“ _Oh_ ,” Meis says. “That’s why you were being weird when I gave you the jacket.”

“Gueira did the same thing about an hour before you did. You two are so alarmingly in sync; it’s honestly a bit scary.”

“Yes, yes, you’re the best and we’re hopelessly gay,” Gueira says. “Now, let’s get to it!” Meis can practically see him vibrating with excitement.

“Right, well, it’s not super exciting, but I hope you like it.” Meis hands the jacket to Gueira and watches as his face lights up.

“A new jacket! And it has studs!” Gueira carefully puts it on, taking care to avoid touching his tattoo. He admires himself for a second and then grins at Meis. “I love it.”

“Now you can stop crying every time you think of your old one.”

“ _Meis!_ I thought we agreed never to speak of that again!” Gueira hisses. Lio cackles beside them.

“Whoops, I must have forgotten,” Meis says. “I really don’t know how that slipped my mind.”

Gueira rolls his eyes but then leans over to take something from Lio, too. 

“These are slightly less practical than a new jacket, but they looked hot, and I feel like it’s a travesty that my favourite cowboy has never had his own.” Gueira leans forward and hands Meis a pair of boots. They’re not just any boots; they’re cowboy boots. And they’re not just any cowboy boots; they’re cowboy boots with _heels_. Complete with gemstones and tassels, they're outrageously gay, and Meis adores them. 

“Oh my god, Gueira, these are incredible.” Meis runs his fingers down the supple leather. “They’re _beautiful_.”

“They’ll match their owner,” Gueira smirks.

“God, you two are disgusting,” Lio says, taking another swig from his bottle. “I love you both so much.” He’s already slurring slightly, and Meis can see a red blush forming on his face.

“What did you even get to drink?” Meis asks.

“Everclear!” Gueira says.

“What is that?”

“It’s a spirit, I think.”

“How high is the alcohol content?” Meis asks. He’s not entirely sure he wants to know.

“Uh. It’s something crazy.” Gueira picks up the bottle to read the label. “Yeah, it’s 95% alcohol.” 

“Is that even legal? Can normal people drink this?”

Gueira squints at the bottle. “It says ‘not intended for consumption unless mixed with non-alcoholic beverage’. It also says it’s extremely flammable and we should keep it away from heat and fire.”

They both look over at the bonfire less than a meter away.

“It’s fine; I don’t think an explosion will kill us.”

“It’ll take more than that to kill the Mad Burnish!” Lio shouts. His voice echoes out into the desert, bouncing off the mountains in the distance.

Gueira shrugs and takes a drink from the bottle. He swallows, coughing and spluttering. “Holy fuck, that shit is _terrible_. Maybe we should have got some mixers, too.”

Meis laughs. “You and Lio are the ones that got the alcohol; you only have yourself to blame for this. Gimme.”

Meis takes the bottle from Gueira and takes a small sip. It burns, but it’s not the worst thing he’s ever tasted. Meis takes another generous swig, and then he hands the bottle back to Lio, who has been making grabby hands for the last minute or so.

“Boss, if you die of alcohol poisoning, we’re going to be really mad,” Gueira warns.

Lio scoffs, waving the bottle around dramatically. “I’m fine, _Gueira_. Besides, you two just got married! Let’s have some fun!”

Meis leans up against Gueira and smiles. This was probably the lamest and least exciting wedding of all time, but it’s _theirs_. It’s something that no-one can take away from them. Meis can call Gueira his husband all he wants, and no one will ever be able to do anything about it.

“You wanna give me a show in those boots, baby?” Gueira murmurs into his ear.

“Maybe later, when we’re alone.”

Gueira chuckles.

~...~

One of the strange traits of the Burnish is the fact that it’s nearly impossible to get them drunk. Their flames heal them rapidly, so it makes sense that they would also be better at filtering out alcohol before it has a chance to affect them. Meis hasn’t been able to get drunk for years, so it’s a bit of a shock when the Everclear starts working very quickly. Before they know it, all three of them are absolutely _smashed_.

By the time they’re ready to go to bed, they’re all so drunk they can barely see straight. Meis is very glad that no one is around to see them stumble back to camp. He had been planning to give Gueira a show in nothing but his new boots, but he suspects he might break an ankle like this. They can save the sexy show for later.

When Meis wakes the next morning, he opens his eyes for a split second before snapping them shut again. The light _burns_ , and every inch of his body aches. He groans, even though he’s scared he might vomit if he opens his mouth.

There’s a shuffling noise in the doorway, and then Lio collapses into their bed with a pathetic whine. “I think I’m dying.”

“Shhhh, my head is going to explode,” Gueira says. He burrows deeper into the bedding, pressing tightly against Meis.

“We’ve made so many mistakes,” Meis croaks.

“We need to wait at least ten years to do this again. I don’t think I’ll survive anything sooner.”

“Gueira, you know a wedding is usually just a one-time thing, right?” Meis asks. “It’s not a driver’s license; we don’t need to renew it.”

“People renew their vows, right?”

“We didn’t have any vows.”

“Stop bullying me. I’m your husband, and I’m dying; you should be looking after me.”

Meis would roll his eyes, but he doesn’t want to move any body part too much right now. He cuddles up closer to Gueira and throws an arm over Lio, who snuggles in too.

“If I survive, I’ll look after you,” Meis promises.

Gueira just grumbles.

“Please, quiet, I want to die in peace,” Lio says.

Meis tightens his arms around his husband and his best friend. Even though he’s never felt this sick in his life, and they’re all technically wanted terrorists and probably being hunted down as they speak, Meis is happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet) for more horny Promare stuff!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio exhales and drops his head onto Meis’ shoulder. “Thank fuck. You two are banned from sacrificing yourselves for me, or anyone else, for the rest of your lives. _Never_ do that again, you absolute assholes.”
> 
> Meis chuckles weakly. “We’d do it again if we got the chance, boss.”
> 
> “You can probably stop calling me boss, now. Unless you guys are into that, of course,” Lio smirks.
> 
> Meis snorts. “Nah, I think we’ll leave the kinky roleplay to you and big blue.”
> 
> Lio goes a violent shade of red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the chapter where we finally catch up to the movie! I am also incredibly lazy and didn't want to rewatch the movie to get the specifics so if stuff doesn't line up exactly we can just say it's an AU and we do what we want here. This chapter might not be hugely exciting, but I am very excited to get to post-movie stuff and share all the fun shenanigans I've got planned!
> 
> Also, we finally get to meet Galo!

Lio has his grand idea about a year after Meis and Gueira get married. They still don’t know for sure where the Burnish are, but they know they aren’t vanishing into thin air. Foresight is keeping them alive _somewhere_ , and they just need to figure out where that is.

“Ugh,” Gueira groans. “The only way we’re ever going to figure this out is if we get captured ourselves, but then we’re as good as dead.”

Meis can practically see the lightbulb go off above Lio’s head.

“Gueira, you’re a genius. We need to get caught!”

Gueira gives Lio a disbelieving look. “And how, exactly, is that going to solve anything?”

“ _That’s_ how we’re going to find the facility,” Lio says. “We’re going to let ourselves get caught, and they’ll take us right to it. Then we can break ourselves and everyone else out all at once!”

“So long as they don’t realise that we’re doing it deliberately, Freeze Force will take us right where we need to go!” Meis realises. “It’s perfect! Fuck, how didn’t we think of this sooner?”

“You guys are nuts,” Gueira sighs. “But you’re not going anywhere without me.”

“We wouldn’t dream of trying it,” Meis promises.

“I don’t see any reason to wait; let’s do this as soon as we can,” Lio says. “I don’t want to leave anyone in there for any longer than we have to.”

After that, there really isn’t that much to plan. They know how to draw attention to themselves, and they know how to fight. All they need to do is make sure they put up enough of a fight to make it convincing. Meis and Gueira decide to let Lio do most of the theatrics since he’s the one with the best command over his flames, and he’ll get a kick out of messing with Freeze Force before they give up.

They decide to target a Foresight Foundation pharmaceutical building. The location isn’t hugely important to their plan, but they jump at any chance to fuck with Foresight. The building is right in the centre of town, so there’s no way anyone could miss this spectacle. They light it up and wait for Freeze Force.

They don’t have long to wait. Surprisingly, it isn’t Freeze Force who shows up first, but a dinky little squad of firefighters. Meis can’t shake the feeling he’s seen some of these people before, particularly the idiot with the blue hair. They almost exclusively encounter Freeze Force when they come into Promepolis, but there has been the odd occasion where they’ve dealt with regular old firefighters instead. Either way, it’s not important. They’ve got a job to do. Meis and Gueira let themselves get taken out by the idiot with the PowerPoint; something Meis knows Lio isn’t going to let them forget any time soon.

Lio messes with the firefighter for a little while before eventually letting himself be caught too. From what Meis can see, it’s a pretty convincing fight. The firefighter’s tech does a fairly good job of keeping up with Lio for a little while there, but there isn’t a piece of technology on the planet that is advanced enough to match Lio’s raw power. After a little while, Lio decides he has had enough, and finally lets the blue rooster take him down. It doesn’t take long for Freeze Force to arrive after that, and it might be the first time Meis is almost glad to see them.

From there, everything goes according to plan. Freeze Force takes them right to the facility, and although it’s worse than they imagined, they break out again without any issue. If it wasn’t a life or death situation, and if it weren’t obvious that their people had been through something horrible, Meis might even say that it’s fun getting to fuck with Foresight like this.

It doesn’t take long for his glee at their escape to fade.

They make their first stop at a cave nearby, and that’s when Lio catches the firefighter from earlier trying to sneak into the cave. He watches Thyma die alongside the rest of the Burnish, and, interestingly, he looks just as distraught as Meis feels. Lio makes the call to leave him there, and they head to their next stop.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to leave him?” Meis asks.

“Well we can’t exactly bring him with us,” Lio says. “He’s not my pet.”

“No, but now he knows we’re in the area. If he goes to Foresight, they might find us.”

Lio hums. “I don’t think he will. Did you see the way he reacted to what I told him about Foresight? I think he’ll be a little more preoccupied with that.”

Meis nods. “You might be right. It’s like he worships that man.”

Gueira shudders beside him. “Gross. It couldn’t be me.”

Lio and Meis chuckle slightly. A hand brushes against Meis’, and he lets Gueira thread his fingers between his own. Meis leans up against Gueira and sighs heavily. He can feel the stress of the last couple of days catching up with him, and all he wants to do is curl up with his husband and sleep for a week. He doesn’t doubt that Foresight is furiously trying to track them down as they speak, so it might be a bit soon to relax, but Meis dozes off to the ever-reassuring sound of Gueira’s heartbeat.

Meis wakes to the feeling of a hand running gently over his head.

“Meis, baby, we’re here.”

Meis opens his eyes and blinks blearily over at Gueira beside him. “Hmm?”

“We’re going to set up base here for a while,” Gueira says.

“Where are we?”

“Mount Fennel. Boss said the heat from the volcano would make it harder for us to be tracked, so we should be able to stay here for a while.”

Meis nods. “That makes sense.”

“Come on, let’s go help set up, then you can nap for as long as you like.”

“I love you so much.”

Gueira snorts. “Love you too, Meisie.”

There are a number of abandoned buildings at the base of the volcano, and it’s just a case of making sure everyone has somewhere to stay for the night. Meis and Gueira claim a room with Lio, and the three of them stretch out on an old mattress together. Gueira lies in the middle, with Meis and Lio burrowing into either side of him. Meis smiles when he brushes over Lio’s fingers as his hand roams over Gueira’s chest.

“No funny business until you two can get your own bed,” Lio growls.

“You got it, boss,” Gueira says. When Lio isn’t looking, he winks at Meis. Meis just giggles and buries his face in Gueira’s side. He’s asleep before he even realises that he has closed his eyes.

~...~

Getting everyone set up is pretty straightforward. The buildings in the area have plenty of basic living supplies, and they spend the rest of the next day washing old sheets and clothing. Meis has to watch where he’s walking, since there are a handful of kids running around now, weaving in and out of people’s legs. For all the times he trips over a giggling child, it’s impossible to be mad at them. He doesn’t know how long some of them had been kept in that facility, and he doesn’t want to imagine how many people they might have lost.

As they begin to make something of a home for themselves, Meis allows himself to feel cautiously optimistic. It’s been a couple of days now since their escape, and they haven’t seen any sign of Freeze Force. If they had known where they were, Meis doesn’t doubt that they would have shown up by now. Maybe Lio’s plan of using the volcano to disguise their heat signature is going to work. Meis finds himself growing more hopeful with each day that passes with no sign of trouble.

Their luck doesn’t hold. It takes a couple more days for Meis' hope to be shattered. 

Meis is woken suddenly by a loud crash. The entire building shakes, and there is screaming from below. Meis launches himself from bed and sprints towards the noise. He knows that it’s Freeze Force even before he comes across the frozen bodies. Meis almost runs into Gueira and Lio when he rounds a corner.

“What the fuck is happening?” Gueira shouts.

“It’s Freeze Force, we have to get out of here,” Lio says.

“I’m not—”

Meis is cut off by an even louder crash, and then the ground gives out from underneath them. Meis feels Lio’s flames curl protectively around the three of them before they even start falling, and it keeps the weight of the building off them as everything collapses around them. When everything settles, Lio's flames expand outwards, pushing the rubble off them.

Freeze Force has surrounded them before they even get a chance to free themselves from the rubble. Meis summons his armour without hesitating, and Meis and Gueira do the same. Lio shouts something to the Freeze Force agents, but Meis isn’t really listening. He glances around, trying to figure out how many Burnish managed to escape the initial attack. Meis is quietly counting the number of Freeze Force agents surrounding them when he hears someone say something behind them, and then he sees them reach forward to touch Lio. Meis swings around to see the old man with a blue disc in his hand. The moment he touches it to Lio’s back, ice rapidly expands over his body, cracking and splitting his armour. Before Meis can do anything, there’s a bang, and Lio is hit with something in a gap of his armour. The force of it knocks him to the ground, and Meis watches in horror as ice races over his body, slowly encasing him. It reminds Meis of the bullets Freeze Force had used on the day they first met Lio. 

“You bastards!” Gueira roars.

Gueira doesn’t get the chance to react beyond that. A sea of bullets rains down on them, and without the same armour as their leaders, the rest of the Burnish stand no chance. Meis watches as they’re swallowed up by ice. Lio is fighting his own battle with the ice slowly wrapping around his body, and Meis knows that he and Gueira can’t hold all these people off on their own. Meis pulls up a wall of flames, and Gueira follows his lead. Together, they form a protective barrier around themselves and the rest of the Burnish, and Freeze Force wastes no time trying to break through. 

“Lio!” Meis shouts.

“He betrayed us!” Lio chokes out. “The old man!”

“I know, I know!” Meis says. “What the fuck do we do?”

Meis’ body shakes as Freeze Force tries to break through their wall of fire.

“We can’t hold this forever,” Gueira grunts.

“You two need to go,” Lio says. “Get out of here!”

“We’re not leaving you!”

“You have to!” Lio shouts desperately. 

Meis looks over at Gueira, and Gueira stares back at him. Meis knows what they have to do now, and the look that Gueira gives him says that he knows it too. All of this will have been for nothing if they can’t save Lio. As long as he’s alive and fighting, the Burnish will still have hope.

Meis looks around until he spots the smoking top of the volcano. “Gueira, up there!”

Gueira looks to where he’s gesturing and grins widely. “You got it!”

“What are you doing?” Lio shrieks. “ _Get out of here!_ ” 

Gueira begins creating something with his fire, and Meis lends him his flames to help. The fire twists and shapes itself into a cannon. Meis reaches out with his flames to gently scoop Lio up and deposit him inside.

“Stop it! You have to go!”

“As long as you live, the Burnish will never fade!” Meis says.

“Your flames are invincible!” Gueira shouts gleefully. “As long as you burn, we have hope.”

“Guys, no, _please_ ,” Lio begs.

Meis can hear the raw desperation in Lio’s voice, and it makes him want to scream at the unfairness of it all. There’s no time to stop and mourn for everything they’ve lost here. They don’t even have time to say goodbye; all they can do is save Lio and hope that he finds a way to fix all of this. 

Meis and Gueira look back at each other and nod. Meis urges his flames to point towards the volcano, and then a strong surge pushes Lio out and up into the air. A feeling of overwhelming relief washes over Meis as he watches Lio sail away. There, he’ll be safe from Freeze Force, and Meis doesn’t doubt that Lio will find some way to purge the ice from his body. He’ll come for them. Meis knows he will.

Meis looks back over to Gueira and sees his relief mirrored in Gueira’s eyes. Meis can feel tears forming as he tries to convey everything he wants to say in a look. He wishes he could say goodbye. He wishes he could tell Gueira one last time that he loves him.

Suddenly, Meis is cold. Then, he blinks, and everything goes dark. He opens his eyes again to the sight of metal. Meis tries to flinch, but something is keeping his arms and legs in place. Meis tries to call forth his flames, but for the first time in years, there is no fire.

Meis tries again and again and _again_ , but nothing happens. He’s alone and completely flameless. Meis slumps against his restraints. He has no idea how much time has passed since being captured by Freeze Force, and he has no idea what happened to Gueira, or Lio, or the rest of the Burnish.

Meis wonders if this is what Foresight does to the captured Burnish. What even is _this_? A cage? A coffin? Something worse? Meis doesn’t want to think too hard about what might be worse than a coffin. 

After what can only be a few minutes, Meis hears the whir of machinery. Something in front of him is pulled away, and Meis realises that his pod doesn’t actually have a front. From what he can see, he’s inside some sort of giant metal structure. By the time his pod comes to a stop, he realises that he can hear voices.

“Hello?” Meis calls. A number of voices call back to him, but he’s only focused on one in particular. 

“ _Meis?_ ” 

“ _Gueira?_ ” Meis can’t see him, but he sounds close.

“Holy fuck, where are you?” Gueira calls.

“I think I’m right beside you,” Meis says.

“What the fuck _is_ this?”

“I don’t know.”

Gueira groans. “I’m guessing you can’t summon your flames, either?”

“No,” Meis sighs. “Do you know where Lio is?”

“No fucking clue, sorry.”

“Don’t worry, I—oh fuck.”

Meis cuts himself off as his pod lights up around him. Then, alarmingly, he starts spinning like he's on some sort of deranged carnival ride. He’s spinning too fast to see anything, and the force of the movement drags his flames out of him. It’s a sensation that Meis has never felt in his life, and it’s one that he doesn’t want to feel ever again.

Meis can’t tell where up and down are anymore, but he’s painfully aware of the feeling of his flames being forcefully pulled from his body. It’s as though the pod is harvesting his power, and it’s the most uncomfortably invasive thing he has ever had to experience. He can hear the pained yells and screams of those around him, and he can’t stop himself from crying out alongside them. Meis thinks he can hear the crashing of metal somewhere nearby, but god only knows where it is, or even if it’s real.

Meis dips in and out of being conscious; it’s all just too much for his body to handle. One moment he’s spinning, and then it goes dark, and then he goes back to spinning. Meis isn’t sure how long it goes on like that before there’s a huge explosion, and suddenly it feels like they’re falling. The combination of immense dizziness and the sensation of falling makes him want to puke. He’s almost glad when they seem to slam back into the ground, even if it makes his wrists and ankles to scream in pain where they’re connected to the pod. Meis gasps for air for a moment before he notices a strange tingling feeling in his fingers. He looks over to his hand and watches, horrified, as the tips of his fingers turn to ash and then regenerate far too slowly to be normal or healthy. 

“Gueira?”

There’s a low groan from the pod next to his, but no other response otherwise.

“Are you okay?” Meis calls.

Gueira coughs and groans. “I think I’m going to fucking puke. Holy shit, what the fuck was that?”

“No fucking clue,” Meis says. He takes a moment to breathe deeply, very much enjoying the lack of spinning. Meis had never been much of a carnival person, even as a kid, and this experience only confirmed that sentiment.

For a moment, the only thing Meis can hear is the voices of the other Burnish, and he tries to tune out the panicked yelling and the crying. That was a particularly unpleasant experience, and he was in pretty good health to start with. Meis doesn’t want to think too hard about what might have happened to those with a weaker regeneration ability.

Just as Meis is beginning to think about an escape plan, there’s another crash from above, and two people drop down to land on the platform out in the open part of whatever this contraption is. Meis can sense that they’re both powerful Burnish, although he doesn’t recognise the taller one. The shorter one is giving off a familiar signal that Meis would recognise anywhere.

“Lio!” Meis shouts.

“Boss!?” Several voices cry out at the sight of Lio. 

“That’s the boss?”

“Lio! He’s come to save us!”

“Uh, Meis,” Gueira says. “Since when has Foresight been Burnish?”

“ _What?_ ” 

“That’s Kray Foresight.”

“Oh my god,” Meis gasps. As much as he wants Gueira to be wrong, he only needs to get a quick glance at the man’s face to realise that Gueira is telling the truth. Through it all, Kray Foresight has been Burnish; just like them. It makes Meis _furious_. Foresight was already a hateful, racist bastard before, but this is an even worse betrayal. The Burnish are his people too, how could he do this to them? What was wrong with him?

Meis fights against his restraints as much as he can, but there’s no escaping them. He can’t summon his flames, and he’s weak from whatever the hell he just experienced. There’s no way he’s getting out of this pod without help.

“We have to do something,” Gueira says desperately. “ _Lio!_ ”

Meis isn’t sure what will haunt him more; the dying cries of the Burnish, or the pained screams of Lio. He’s not sure what Foresight is doing, or what the purpose of this contraption is, but Meis wonders if it’s a way to harvest Burnish energy. It wouldn’t surprise Meis to learn that Lio is capable of producing the same amount of power as hundreds of people. They’ve always known he was powerful, and until now, that had always been a good thing for them. Watching Foresight try to take advantage of Lio’s power makes rage burn in the pit of Meis’ stomach, and if the pod weren’t stopping him from producing his flames, he would incinerate Foresight without a second thought.

Meis fights with his bonds, begs for his flames to answer his calls, but nothing happens. Judging by the grunting coming from Gueira’s pod, he’s trying just as desperately to escape. Meis can feel the stress of the situation catching up to him, and he can feel his limbs and eyelids getting heavier by the second. He’s useless like this, and Lio’s pained cries are the worst form of torture. They should be out there helping him!

Then, Meis hears a rumble and a faint siren. It builds steadily in volume, and then what appears to be a drill bursts through the roof and crashes into Lio’s pod in the centre of the room. It explodes, sending a powerful wave of fire out over the nearest pods. Meis feels the warmth of Lio’s fire wash over him, and he can feel some of his strength return to him.

When the dust settles, Meis watches as Lio’s favourite fighter appears and confronts Foresight. Meis can’t make out what they’re saying, but suddenly Foresight releases a powerful burst of fire, and Meis winces at the thought of what that’s going to do to a human body. But then when Meis looks back, he gasps. The firefighter is pushing forward through the flames, seemingly unfazed. He keeps pushing forward, and Foresight lets the fire burn out when he seems to realise that it isn’t doing anything. They talk for a moment, and then, to Meis' delight, the man rears back and absolutely _decks_ Foresight. He punches him with enough force to send him straight into the floor, and Meis certainly isn't the only one to cheer at that.

Then, the firefighter crouches down, and Meis can’t see what he’s doing anymore. Meis hasn’t seen Lio since the firefighter freed him from the pod, and he can only hope that he’s okay. After a few anxiety-filled moments, Lio emerges, and Meis sags against his restraints in relief. 

“We’ll need help from all the Burnish!” Lio shouts. “Together, we can burn the planet to the ground!”

Meis wishes he could see the face of glee that he knows Gueira is making at that instruction. He doesn't entirely understand why they're burning the entire planet, but Meis hasn't got this far by questioning Lio's tactics. 

“You got it, boss!” Gueira shouts back.

Meis watches Lio and his firefighter climb into the pod, and it lights up with a bright blue flame. Meis takes a breath. Now, it’s as though he can hear his flames whispering to him, asking to join with the flames that Lio is creating. All Meis has to do is let them be free, and they pour forward, rushing along with the flames of the Burnish surrounding him. They coil around Lio’s pod and then flow upwards and out of sight.

For a moment, Meis relishes in the glee of letting his flames run free and wild. Then, something strange begins to happen. It’s as though all the heat is being sucked from his body, as though the _fire_ is being pulled from his body. Meis twists and turns, trying to break free of this bizarre, invasive sensation, but it envelopes him completely. It doesn’t hurt, exactly, but it definitely isn’t comfortable.

The feeling doesn’t last any more than a minute, but Meis feels unnaturally cold when it’s over. His flames have stopped pouring forth, and it’s dark in the pod, not to mention cold. Meis is suddenly painfully aware of just how cold his exposed shoulders are. And that, in itself, is incredibly unsettling. Meis hasn’t been this cold in years. The Burnish don’t get cold; it’s one of the perks of their mutation. For the first time in years, Meis feels _cold_.

Meis tries to summon his flames. They came so easily just moments ago, but now it’s as though they never existed. Without his flames, Meis doesn’t have the strength to break out of here on his own. Without his flames, Meis is at the mercy of a few flimsy pieces of metal keeping him trapped. Without his flames, Meis is nothing.

“Gueira?” Meis calls, voice shaking.

“I’m here,” Gueira says. “Are you okay?”

“I can’t burn,” Meis says. He can feel himself starting to hyperventilate. “I can’t _burn!_ ”

“Meisie, you need to breathe, you’re going to be okay,” Gueira says quickly. “Lio is going to get us out of here.”

Meis takes a few big gulping breaths, but he can’t stop thinking about how cold and helpless he is. The machine is broken, but his flames still won’t come to him. He can’t feel them or hear them at all, and he feels just like he did before he became Burnish. Meis doesn’t know what he’s going to do without his flames. He doesn’t know who he is anymore without them. What is he going—

“Meis!” Gueira shouts. “You need to keep calm!”

“I’m trying,” Meis gasps.

“Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I tripped over and got seventeen stitches in my knee?”

“What?” Meis asks. “No?”

“Oh man, it’s so fucking dumb,” Gueira chuckles. He launches into his story, and Meis is too busy laughing at his husband’s antics to focus on how cold he is. For a couple of hours, Gueira keeps Meis distracted like that. Gueira talks about everything from the time he fought an alligator to why he’s scared of moths. It’s easy to forget the nightmare of being trapped in some giant, nightmarish machine when Gueira is beside him, making him smile and laugh. 

After a couple of hours, Gueira stops being so quick to respond.

“I’m just getting tired, don’t worry,” Gueira says.

As if that’s going to stop Meis from worrying.

“Just don’t fall asleep on me. I’m going to start freaking out if I’m here on my own, Gueira.”

Gueira hums in agreement.

“Do you want to hear about how often I used to trip over while I was getting used to only having one eye?” Meis asks.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Meis is only a few minutes into his story when Gueira stops making noises of acknowledgment.

“Gueira?”

He’s silent.

“ _Gueira?_ ” 

Nothing.

“Gueira, you better not die on me, you absolute dumbass. I am never going to forgive you if you die and leave me alone with Lio. I do not want to spend the rest of my life listening to him pine after that stupid firefighter.”

Gueira is silent, but that doesn’t stop Meis from talking to him. It’s the only thing keeping him from losing it altogether. Meis is already on the verge of meltdown thinking about potentially not being Burnish anymore; the thought of losing Gueira is just too much for his brain to handle.

Meis is cold, and he tells Gueira as much. He can hear other people talking around them, but he tunes them out. If no one has already escaped, then Meis suspects they can’t summon their flames either, and he doesn’t want to think about what that might mean. If he spends too much time wondering if this god-forsaken machine managed to drain them of their flames entirely—no, that’s not something Meis wants to think about. Meis just needs to stay calm. Lio can’t be far away. Lio wouldn’t leave them to die here. He just has to be patient.

Meis is _cold_.

~...~

Meis doesn’t realise that he has fallen asleep until he’s being gently shaken awake by a woman with bright pink hair.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Meis blinks at her for a moment before he remembers where he is and flails desperately.

“Hold on, calm down; we’re going to get you out of here!” She raises the tool in her hand, and Meis can’t say that action makes her look any less threatening.

Meis looks over her warily. He doesn’t miss the bright red uniform. “And why exactly should I trust a firefighter?”

“Look, you’re with Lio, right?” she asks.

“What’s it to you?”

She sighs. “I’m Galo’s friend.”

“You say that like I know who that is.”

“The idiot with the blue hair?”

Meis struggles to hide a snort.

“And he’s with Lio right now looking for you.”

“Is Lio okay? Where is he?” Meis demands.

“If you let me cut you free, I can take you to him.”

Meis frowns at her for a moment. “Fine. But I’m not going anywhere without Gueira.”

The woman just nods and carefully cuts through the metal restraints around Meis’ ankles and ankles. The instant that Meis is free, he stumbles over to Gueira’s pod. He’s uncoordinated and unsteady, and he has to keep a hand on the wall to keep himself steady, but nothing is going to stop him from getting to Gueira.

Meis rounds the corner and nearly collapses in relief when he isn’t greeted by a pile of ashes. Gueira hangs from the wall, unconscious, but clearly still alive. Meis lets out a sob and slumps against the metal. He reaches out to touch Gueira’s hand and shudders at how cold it is.

“Hey, we’re going to get him out,” the woman says gently. Meis jumps slightly; he hadn’t heard her approach.

“Please, you have to save him,” Meis says desperately. “He has to be okay.”

She nods and steps forward to cut through his restraints. Meis steps up beside her and pulls Gueira into his arms, carefully lowering the two of them to the floor. He takes great heaving breaths, too overwhelmed to form words. Meis presses his face to Gueira’s neck, nuzzling into the warmth of his hair. Meis can feel the tears making their way down his face, but he pays them no mind. Normally, crying in public is something that Meis would avoid at all costs. But now, with an unconscious Gueira in his arms, there’s nothing he can do to stop the waterworks.

Meis hears the footsteps of the woman against the metal flooring. He keeps the right side of his face buried in Gueira’s hair and looks up at her with his good eye.

“What?”

“Let’s get you two out of here; Galo and Lio are looking for you. We can get your friend some medical attention and then I’ll go find Lio for you.”

Meis frowns at her for a second, and then sighs. He’s not in any position to deny help, even if he’s not entirely sure why she’s helping them. “Thank you.”

Normally, Meis wouldn’t struggle to lift Gueira. But he still can’t summon his flames, and he isn’t entirely sure he could stand up on his own anyway. There’s no way he’s carrying Gueira out of here without help, as much as he hates to admit it to a stranger.

“Here, put one of his arms around my shoulder,” the woman offers. “You can support his other side.”

They carry Gueira out of the towering room of pods, and Meis blinks as they emerge out into the sunlight. There are ambulances and stretches clustered around the outside of whatever the hell this massive structure is, and there are people everywhere. It’s absolute chaos, and Meis is suddenly very glad that he isn’t going to have to track down Lio on his own. With the woman’s help, they lie Gueira down on a stretcher, and she beckons a couple of paramedics over.

“I’m going to find Lio, don’t go anywhere.”

“Thank you,” Meis says.

She just nods, and then she’s gone.

The paramedics spend a couple of minutes poking and prodding at Gueira, and Meis has to resist the urge to snap at them for touching his husband so much. They tell Meis that he seems to have just passed out from a combination of exhaustion and dehydration. They leave a couple of bottles of water and some energy bars for him once he wakes up.

Meis sits by Gueira’s side and watches numbly as Burnish file out of the structure. It’s always a relief when he spots a familiar face and can see they’re okay. Once things calm down, they’ll need to follow up on everyone they met during their time with Mad Burnish. Meis shudders when he thinks about how many people might not have made it out of there. His morbid thoughts are interrupted by a shout.

“ _Meis!_ ”

Meis looks over to see Lio running towards them, trailed by Galo. He can’t muster the strength to stand up, so he just opens his arms and lets Lio barrel into him.

“Gueira, is he—”

“He’s fine,” Meis assures him. “He just passed out.”

Lio exhales and drops his head onto Meis’ shoulder. “Thank fuck. You two are banned from sacrificing yourselves for me, or anyone else, for the rest of your lives. _Never_ do that again, you absolute assholes.”

Meis chuckles weakly. “We’d do it again if we got the chance, boss.”

“You can probably stop calling me boss, now. Unless you guys are into that, of course,” Lio smirks.

Meis snorts. “Nah, I think we’ll leave the kinky roleplay to you and big blue.”

Lio goes a violent shade of red.

~...~

Galo eventually leaves Lio with them to go back to work, but not without making Lio promise to get some rest. Lio huffs and puffs, but ultimately he stays with Meis as they wait for Gueira to wake up. Lio fills Meis in on everything, from the fact that their flames were aliens, to Galo offering him a place to stay.

“I said I’d stay with him for now, but only if he'd let you guys stay too.”

“You really want to keep me and Gueira around?” Meis asks.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“If it’s just you and Galo in his apartment, you can fuck on every surface without feeling bad.”

Lio bursts out laughing. “And you assume I’ll feel bad if you guys are around?”

“You’re disgusting, and I hope you feel bad.”

“Like you and Gueira would be any different,” Lio says, raising an eyebrow.

He isn’t wrong.

“But seriously, I’m not going anywhere without you guys,” Lio says firmly. “If you don’t want to live with Galo, we’ll find something else,”

“Don’t worry; we’d never make you abandon your new toy. You really like him, huh?”

Lio smiles. It’s a good look for him. “Yeah. I don’t know, there’s just something about him. I like him.”

“Oh, really? I couldn’t tell.”

Lio gives him a gentle shove. “What happened to showing respect for your leader?”

“You can’t lead a group that doesn’t exist," Meis says flatly. "We’re not Burnish anymore, there's no more Mad Burnish."

Meis always thought he’d be excited to see the end of the need for Mad Burnish. Their life wasn’t easy; it was filled with struggle and fear and pain and loss. Meis had always hoped that, one day, things would be good again, and the Burnish wouldn’t need Mad Burnish anymore. Meis just hadn't anticipated the end of Mad Burnish being the result of no longer being Burnish. 

“We’re always going to be Burnish, even without the Promare. We’re always going to be Mad Burnish, too. We should get jackets made. We’ll get them to match our armour.” Lio says, and then he groans. “Our bikes!”

“Our bikes?”

“We can’t make our bikes anymore! Or our armour.”

“Huh,” Meis says.

Lio is right. Without their flames, they can’t create stuff out of thin air anymore. Gueira isn’t going to be happy about that when he wakes up. He loved his stupidly giant armour and his quad bike. Meis might never entirely understand why he would want a quad bike when a motorbike was so much more manoeuvrable, but it suited Gueira. Meis was always the adaptable and flighty one, whereas Gueira tended just to smash his way through a problem. Gueira was the sort of person that made things happen, no matter how hard he had to fight for them. It had gotten him into a fair amount of trouble throughout his life, but Meis had always respected Gueira’s resilience. Some might call it being stubborn, but Meis always thought of it as a high level of determination. Unless, of course, Gueira was trying to do something stupid, then it was just him being a stubborn idiot. It depended on the situation. Either way, he wasn’t going to be happy to wake up and learn about the loss of the Promare.

It doesn’t take long for Gueira to wake up. He shifts slightly in the middle of Meis and Lio's conversation, and then all of Meis’ attention is on him. It takes a couple of minutes for him to wake up and finally speak.

“Ugh, fuck,” Gueira groans quietly, opening his eyes slowly. He squints and blinks. “Meis?” His voice is raw and scratchy.

“Hey, cowboy. How are you feeling?”

Gueira frowns at him. “I’m not cowboy, you’re cowboy,” he protests weakly. 

Meis chuckles. He strokes a hand over Gueira’s cheek. “Yeah, okay. I’m the cowboy.”

“Can we get a yeehaw?” Gueira doesn’t shout this familiar refrain like he usually does, but it still makes Meis smile. He’s completely overwhelmed by everything that has happened, and yet Gueira still manages to make him laugh.

“Yeehaw, puppy. How are you feeling?”

“Sore. Tired. Why am I on a stretcher? What did I do this time?”

“You don’t remember the engine?” Lio asks.

Gueira frowns for a second, looks around, and then gasps. “Oh fuck, are you guys okay? Oh my god, what the hell happened? Did everyone get out?”

Meis brushes a few stray hairs off Gueira’s forehead. “We’re okay; you just passed out. You need to have something to eat and drink, but otherwise you’re fine. I don’t know about everyone else. I saw some of the crew, but we can work on tracking everyone down later.”

Lio nods. “Once everyone is out, Burning Rescue is going to help get everyone into shelters for the night, and then we can work on figuring out who’s... missing.”

Meis helps Gueira sit up and then hands him a bottle of water.

Gueira sticks a hand out and frowns. “What the hell? Why can’t I make any fire? I’m so goddamn cold.”

“We’re not Burnish anymore," Meis says carefully. "It’s a long story, but basically, there were aliens from an alternate reality living in the centre of the earth that gave us powers. Now, they’ve gone back to their reality, so our powers are gone too.” 

Gueira frowns at him, and then looks over at Lio. “I can’t tell if he's taking the piss.”

“He’s not. I'm sorry, Gueira.”

“Well, _fuck_ ,” Gueira says quietly.

“Well, fuck, indeed,” Meis agrees.

“But hey, at least we’re all alive!” Gueira points out.

Lio glares at him. “I swear, if you two ever pull anything as stupid as sacrificing yourselves for me ever again, I’ll—”

“Sorry boss, but Meis and I had an agreement from the day we met you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lio eyes them suspiciously.

“We _also_ agreed that we would never tell the boss about this agreement,” Meis reminds Gueira.

“Oh. Yeah. Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”

Lio is still glaring. “What are you two talking about?”

“We had an agreement that, if it came down to it, your survival was more important than ours. If everything else failed, you’d be our only hope,” Meis says.

Lio groans and drops his head into his hands. “Why would you do that? You both know I’m basically useless without you.”

“You obviously found a way to get out of that volcano without us,” Meis points out. 

“That’s not the point!” Lio bristles. “We’re supposed to be a team.”

“There was no point being a team if that meant you being caught by Freeze Force too, boss. We made the call to save you, and it worked. We didn’t want to do it, but we didn’t have any other choice,” Meis says.

Lio glares at him for a second and then sighs, his face softening. “I know. I just don’t like it.”

“Well, we shouldn’t have to worry about that anymore, right? We’re probably going to have a lot more shit to deal with now, but hopefully no one will be trying to kill us,” Gueira says. Then, he frowns. “Should we be getting out of here? We’re technically still terrorists, right? I didn’t come this far just to get arrested for real.”

Lio shakes his head. “Galo said that they were already dealing with that. As long as we don’t do anything illegal from now on, we’ll be fine.”

Meis whistles. “Us? Obeying the law? I don’t remember the last time I obeyed the speed limit.”

“You’ll have to run pretty fast to do that without a bike,” Gueira says, smirking widely.

“Too soon, Gueira, too soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet) and watch me be an idiot for Promare!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you think we’d be good at that?" Meis asks. "Being firefighters?”
> 
> Gueira shrugs. “I mean, did you think you’d be any good at leading a Burnish rebellion group?”
> 
> “I guess not. But that just kind of happened, it’s not like it was a conscious decision.”
> 
> “Why don’t we try something different? Let’s get lame jobs somewhere stupid, and we can just be boring, normal people,” Gueira suggests.
> 
> “Do you see yourself actually listening to your 20-year-old manager telling you that you need to clean a bathroom?” Meis points out.
> 
> Gueira huffs. “Okay, maybe not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND IT'S TIME FOR SEX, BABEY. This chapter is like 80% smut, you're welcome.
> 
> This chapter should be called "catch me getting jealous of a couple of fictional characters because they can touch each other as much as they want".

Once Gueira is strong enough to walk, and the rest of the Burnish have a place to stay for the night, Galo takes the three of them back to his apartment. Meis doesn’t entirely trust him, but Lio seems to, so that’s enough for the moment. Even without the Promare, Meis doesn’t doubt that Lio could destroy Galo if he tried anything stupid.

Galo’s apartment is a bit sparse, but the spare room has the most comfortable bed Meis has slept on in years. On their first night there, Meis and Gueira collapse into bed and sleep for about twelve hours straight. They wake briefly in the early hours of the morning when Lio crawls into bed. Then, they’re woken again when Galo climbs in after Lio. Meis would complain at the intrusion, but he welcomes the added body heat. He’s uncomfortably cold without the Promare, and even being wrapped around Gueira isn’t enough to chase away the chill.

For a couple of weeks after the Second World Blaze, the three previously Burnish are roped into helping with the clean-up effort. Lio ends up taking charge of a lot of Burnish-related issues, and Meis and Gueira happily step up to support him. In a way, it’s almost like old times. Except for the fact that they have a safe place to sleep and aren’t being hunted by Foresight and his Freeze Force.

When they’re not working, they’re making themselves at home in Galo’s apartment. Meis and Gueira stay in the spare bedroom, and Lio stays with them for the first few days before joining Galo in his bedroom down the hallway. The first few nights after everything are rough for all of them. They all have nightmares about the Parnassus, and if Meis isn’t woken by his own, then he is woken by Gueira’s, or the sound of Lio’s panic from down in Galo’s bedroom.

Meis can’t help but feel a little bit sorry for Galo. He doesn’t get a night alone with Lio for more than a month after the three of them move in since their first instinct is to band together whenever anything is wrong. For weeks, Galo either has to deal with Gueira and Meis crawling into bed to be with Lio, or he ends up following Lio into the spare bedroom to join them in their bed.

The first time Gueira and Meis had clambered into Galo’s bed to comfort Lio, Galo had just seemed confused. Meis suspects he hadn’t anticipated just how cuddly the leaders of the infamous Mad Burnish could be. Fortunately, Galo didn’t say anything judgemental or rude, and he quickly adapts to the unplanned and frequent sleepovers.

The nightmares fade as the weeks pass, and soon it becomes a rarity for one of them to have one bad enough to need more comfort than one person can provide, but the nightmares don’t stop entirely. Meis doesn’t know if they ever will. He’s haunted by his memories of the Parnassus, not to mention the lingering stress of his time with Mad Burnish, and he doesn’t doubt that Gueira and Lio are the same.

Meis had always thought he would be thrilled to see Foresight punished for everything he did to the Burnish, but when his trial rolls around it’s just painful and stressful, and Meis couldn’t be gladder to see it over. All four of them are involved in some way or another, and it drags on for weeks before coming to a conclusion. Foresight is sentenced to multiple life sentences, and unless he miraculously lives to be a few hundred years old, he’s going to rot in jail. As exhausting and unpleasant as the trial is, it might be the best thing to have ever happened to the Burnish. Meis watches Foresight as the sentence is read out, and he takes some cruel delight in the way that his face crumples. A prison sentence won’t ever compare to the pain and suffering inflicted on the Burnish, but Meis will sleep better at night knowing that Foresight will never walk free again.

Even though Meis is thrilled at the news of Foresight’s imprisonment, he’s also a little bit sad for Galo. Lio talks about Galo constantly when he isn’t around, and Meis would be annoyed by it, but he knows that he would have been the same when he and Gueira first got together. One of the things that Lio talks about is Foresight’s role in Galo’s life as his literal saviour and hero, and it breaks Meis’ heart a little bit. After losing his entire family in the space of a few minutes, it’s no wonder Galo latched onto Foresight like he did. It’s unnecessarily cruel for Foresight to be behind all of Galo’s pain, from being the cause of the fire that orphaned him, to then betraying his trust and lying to him for his whole life. Knowing all of this, Meis makes an effort to keep any celebrations about Foresight’s imprisonment to whenever Galo isn’t around.

Once life in Promepolis is starting to return to normal, Lio keeps working with Burning Rescue as a firefighter, of all things. The first time Meis and Gueira see Lio in his official firefighter get-up, they spend at least half an hour on the living room floor, laughing hysterically at the absurdity of it all. Here stands the great Lio Fotia, leader of Mad Burnish and the saviour of the Burnish; now a firefighter. It still makes Meis chuckle whenever he thinks about it.

“You know, you guys would be welcome to keep working with Burning Rescue too, if you wanted,” Galo offers over dinner one night.

“Us? _Firefighters?_ ” Gueira scoffs before frowning slightly. “You know, I’ve always said that Meis looks good in red. He’d probably look hot as fuck in that uniform.”

“Yes, because _that’s_ the important thing here,” Lio says, and Meis can practically hear his eyes rolling in his skull.

“The red would clash horribly with your hair, Gueira,” Meis points out.

“But I’d still look hot, right?” 

Meis pretends to think for a moment, breaking out into laughter at Gueira’s indignant squawk.

~...~

“Fuck, Meis, please!” Gueira whines.

Meis smirks and twirls his fingers around Gueira’s clit again, relishing in the way that he thrusts up into the light touch. Gueira’s body is covered in a thin layer of sweat, and he looks like he might come at any moment. Meis slides his fingers down and thrusts two into Gueira’s hole. He feels his own dick twitch at the positively filthy noise that accompanies him as he thrusts in and out of Gueira’s pussy.

“What do you want tonight, Gueira? Do you want me to fuck you? Or do you just want to get off like this?”

Gueira groans. “Why do you ask me questions while I’m this turned on? My brain doesn’t work like this!”

“Do you want me to pick what I want and do that?”

Gueira nods his head frantically.

“Baby, I am going to fuck you so good you aren’t going to remember your own name,” Meis says. Gueira just whines and spreads his legs even wider in response. Like this, shamelessly showing off his body, he truly is a sight to behold. When their relationship was still young, Meis could tell that Gueira was a little bit nervous during sex. He wasn’t a virgin, but he had later admitted that Meis was the first person to sleep with him after his transition. Meis was the first to know him so intimately as Gueira, to really learn and explore and love his body as a man. 

And, to be fair, Meis had been nervous about his first time with Gueira, too. He had only ever slept with cis guys in the past, so he was pretty unfamiliar with the equipment, if you will. Luckily for them both, Meis had always been a quick learner, and Gueira being very vocally appreciative of the things he liked meant that it wasn’t hard for Meis to figure out what those things were. Even now, years later, Gueira’s noise levels are still a pretty good indicator of how well Meis is doing.

Unfortunately, now that they’re in a shared apartment in a building with many other apartments, they have to be just a little more considerate of how loud they can get. Meis doesn’t really want the entire building to know when they’re having sex, even if he does love every peep that leaves Gueira’s mouth. Nothing gets him going like the pleasured cries of his husband, but unfortunately neither Lio nor Galo share that same level of appreciation. They’re also prone to getting mad whenever they find out that someone has made another noise complaint about their apartment, and while an angry Galo isn’t that intimidating, an angry Lio is another story.

Tonight, however, Lio and Galo are watching a loud action movie in the living room. They’re all the way down the corridor, and the noise from the TV drowns out pretty much everything else. Tonight, Meis can go all out, and Gueira’s vocal appreciation of his sexual prowess won’t bother anyone.

Meis takes a moment to drink in the sight of Gueira below him. He’s panting and wet, legs spread obscenely. Meis gets an uninterrupted view of the thick curls above Gueira’s cunt, as well as the beautiful rosy lips hidden beneath. His clit is fat with arousal, poking out above his hair and practically begging for Meis to play with it some more. Gueira’s eyes flick up to meet Meis’ gaze, and Meis grins as Gueira’s pussy twitches and shudders as he realises how intensely Meis is watching him. Gueira is the exhibitionist from hell, and Meis loves indulging him. It’s one of their favourite games; Meis sitting back and watching as Gueira touches himself and opens himself up to be fucked. For Meis, it’s almost painful not being able to touch everything being shown off for him. But the payoff is always worth it, so Meis will always happily endure.

Tonight, Meis is just a little bit too impatient to draw out this game as long as he usually likes to. He wants to get his hands all over Gueira and play him like a sexy, horny fiddle. He wants to fuck the love of his life and forget that the rest of the world exists.

Meis shuffles in closer, moving so his hips are flush with Gueira’s ass. He slides his cock teasingly along Gueira’s pussy, pressing it into his clit. Gueira gasps and rolls his hips, trying to grind back into him. Meis pulls back again, taking great delight at the way that Gueira’s hips desperately follow his movement.

“Just relax, Gueira, lie back down for me,” Meis purrs, gently pushing him back into the mattress. “I’ll give you everything you need, just be patient.”

“I’ve never been patient a day in my life,” Gueira groans.

“I know,” Meis chuckles, “but you’re going to try for me tonight, aren’t you, puppy?”

Gueira nods and relaxes into the bed, exhaling heavily. “Yeah, okay. But seriously, I might actually explode.”

Meis leans forward to stroke a hand down Gueira’s cheek. He smiles when Gueira nuzzles into his hand. “You’re so perfect for me, I think I’ll indulge you. I love you so much, baby, such a good boy for me.”

Gueira groans and then gasps as Meis brings his cock back to his pussy. Meis slides it through the wetness there for a moment before he gently pushes inside. Gueira squeezes his eyes shut and fists his hands in the sheets, and Meis can feel Gueira fighting his natural reaction to move his hips up into Meis’ thrusts. He manages to stay flat against the bed, so Meis rewards him with a couple of fingers on his clit. He rubs over the hot little nub in time with each thrust into Gueira’s body, earning himself a high-pitched whine from Gueira.

“I’m close,” Gueira gasps, “gonna come.”

“I think you can come twice for me tonight; do you want to do that?”

Gueira opens his eyes to look at Meis and nod.

“Good boy. Come on, come for me.”

Meis keeps gently thrusting in and out of Gueira, focusing now on stroking his clit. Gueira has never been able to come from penetration alone. He gets most of his enjoyment from having his clit played with, and it’s something that Meis takes _great_ delight in accommodating. He loves getting his hands and mouth on Gueira’s sweet clit, loves the feeling of it twitching in his mouth or the heat of it against his fingers. It’s beautifully plump and full, and it’s easy to reach down to give it a teasing flick whenever Meis wants to make Gueira whine.

With Meis’s cock in his pussy and hand on his clit, it barely takes any time for Gueira to come. He tightens his legs where they’re wrapped around Meis, pulling him in and holding him flush against his ass. Gueira reaches down to where Meis is stroking his clit and pushes Meis’ hand firmly against himself. He whimpers and whines as he comes, rolling his hips and grinding Meis’ hand against his clit.

Meis loves the way that Gueira takes him and _uses_ him as he comes. Gueira chases his own pleasure so shamelessly, so openly. It might look selfish, but Gueira is well aware of the fact that Meis gets off on watching Gueira make himself feel good. He knows that Meis loves the feeling of his pussy clenching around his cock, drenching him in a quick gush of fluid. Gueira isn’t a squirter, but he produces enough wetness when he’s turned on that the end result is pretty much the same. Sex with Gueira is a very wet affair, and Meis _loves_ it. Gueira lets go of Meis’ hand after a moment and lies back, panting heavily.

“How was that, puppy?”

“So good,” Gueira says breathlessly. “You can keep fucking me, just give my clit a second.” 

Meis takes his hand off Gueira’s clit and reaches up to trail his hands along Gueira’s stomach and chest as he resumes fucking into him. Meis revels in the way that Gueira’s chest heaves with gasping breaths, the way that his stomach shudders when he touches Gueira’s ticklish spot.

“You’re killing me, Meis,” Gueira groans. “But what a way to go.”

“But what a way to go,” Meis agrees. “You always feel so good, puppy. Fuck, I love you.”

“I love you too, especially when you’re balls deep in me,” Gueira says, ever the romantic.

Meis’s laughter shakes his whole body, making his thrusts jerky and uneven. Gueira groans slightly at that, and Meis laughs again.

“If you want me to be more careful, stop making me laugh!”

“I can’t help being hilarious, babe. It’s in my blood.”

Meis rolls his eyes and continues his slow, steady thrusts. He’s slowly working up to his own orgasm, but he’s not really in the mood for leisurely or lazy. He wants to _fuck_ Gueira, he wants to make their skin slap together hard enough to sting. He wants to make Gueira’s whole body move with his thrusts. He wants to fuck Gueira so hard that Lio and Galo can hear them from all the way down the hall. He wants their neighbours to make noise complaints—again. He wants to make Gueira _sing_.

“I’m going to fuck you harder now, is that okay?”

“Yeah, go for it,” Gueira says.

Meis shifts back, steadies himself, and then thrusts back in with all the force that he can manage. That punches a groan out of Gueira, and he grins up at Meis. Meis smiles down at Gueira as he fucks roughly into him. His breasts shake with each thrust, and Meis can’t help leaning forward to lick over Gueira’s chest. He mouths over the soft flesh, biting gently at a nipple.

Another thing that Meis has learned about Gueira is that he _loves_ it when Meis plays with his breasts. Meis adores Gueira’s cute little chest, and he loves the sweet handfuls of flesh there. They’re fun to play with, and Gueira makes the most delightful noises when Meis nibbles and licks at his nipples. Gueira’s nipples are incredibly sensitive, to the point where all Meis needs to do is brush a hand lightly over his chest and it’ll make Gueira wet. It’s a power that Meis regularly abuses, especially since he knows that Gueira loves it just as much as he does. 

Meis continues running his mouth over Gueira’s chest as he fucks into him. Meis can feel his own orgasm getting close, and his movements are becoming uncoordinated and sloppy. It’s hard to keep his mouth over Gueira’s nipples as they bounce with each thrust, and he’s not really doing anything more than panting into Gueira’s skin, but Gueira doesn’t seem to mind. He makes a little ‘ _ah, ah,_ _ah_ ’ with each thrust, crying out each time Meis slams into him. Gueira rests his hands on the back of Meis’ head, gently urging him to keep his mouth on his chest.

Meis pulls back slightly to give himself some room to speak. “I’m gonna come in you, and then I’m going to suck you off.”

“Oh, fuck, sounds good,” Gueira pants.

Meis fucks Gueira as hard and as fast as he can. Their bare skin slaps together obscenely, and Meis desperately hopes that Galo’s movie is still loud enough to drown them out. It only takes another few thrusts for Meis’ orgasm to overwhelm him, and he rides out the wave of pleasure as he grinds into Gueira. Nothing feels as good as fucking Gueira and filling him with his come, and Meis can’t find it within himself to care how loud he’s being anymore. His orgasm seems to go on forever, and he lets himself slump entirely down onto Gueira’s chest as he loses himself to the pleasure of it all.

Once he’s done, Meis pushes himself up to look down at Gueira. He’s watching Meis with a dopey smile. “That feel good?” he asks.

Meis laughs and flops back down onto Gueira’s chest. “You’re not supposed to be able to remember your own name, let alone talk.”

“I’m ready for orgasm number two, you can blow my brains out with that one.”

Meis rolls his eyes. “You demanding asshole.”

“You love me.”

“Yeah, I do. I really do. God, I love you so much, baby.”

Meis takes a couple of minutes to rest against Gueira’s chest, listening to the slowly steadying beat of his husband’s heart. He stays inside of Gueira, another thing they both love. Gueira manages to make it sound romantic. He talks about the feeling of connection that he gets with Meis when he’s deep inside of him like this. Honestly, Meis mostly just enjoys being able to spend as much time buried in Gueira’s pretty pussy as he possibly can. Quietly, he’ll also agree that he likes the intimacy of it.

After Meis is a little surer that his limbs are going to cooperate, he pulls out and sits up beside Gueira. He’s still waiting patiently for his second orgasm, and Meis wants to reward his beautiful puppy for being so well behaved.

“I was thinking we could spice things up a little bit with a couple of toys,” Meis says.

Gueira’s face lights up. “From the stuff we bought the other day?” 

“Of course, puppy, give me a second.”

Meis stands up and walks across the room to their chest of drawers. They used to keep their sex toys in their bedside table, until Lio accidentally discovered them while he was looking for a phone charger. Now, they’re safely tucked away in amongst their socks and underwear.

“You cleaned like I asked, right?” Meis asks.

“Yes indeedy,” Gueira says. “I can actually listen to instructions.”

“When you want to,” Meis snorts.

“Look I might be a brat, but you’re the one who married me.”

Meis’ dramatic sigh is broken by a laugh. “I can’t argue with you there.”

Meis rummages around in the drawer for a second and pulls out their newest vibrator and butt plug. The plug is made out of glass and is a pretty pale pink. The end is shaped like a flower and Meis can’t _wait_ to see it in his husband’s ass. He walks back to the bed and places the vibrator on the towel with their lube. He holds the plug up and drizzles a dollop of lube onto it as Gueira stares, wide-eyed. Meis makes a show of slowly and carefully rubbing the lube over the plug, earning himself a truly desperate whine from Gueira. It’s a pretty small plug, and Gueira is loose and languid from his orgasm, so Meis doesn’t need to do anything more to get him ready before he carefully presses the tip of the plug to his hole.

“Ah,” Gueira gasps. “Cold.”

“It’ll warm up, just give it some time in your hot little hole.” As Meis talks, he presses the plug into Gueira’s ass until it goes deep enough to be pulled into his body.

Gueira lets out a low groan. “Fuck.”

“You okay, baby?”

“Yeah. Just... _full_.”

“Mmm. We both know how much you like being full.”

Gueira lets out an unsteady breath. “If you know that, then why aren’t you doing it?”

Meis rolls his eyes but picks up the vibrator anyway. He doesn’t waste any more time bringing it down to slide it over Gueira’s pussy. His labia are slick and messy, and his clit twitches as Meis teases him. Meis’ come is starting to slowly drip out of him, and Meis slides his fingers through the mess before trying to push it back up inside of Gueira. It’s a futile exercise since more just keeps sliding out, but it’s fun to do anyway.

One of the fun things about not being wanted criminals was the fact that they now have access to healthcare. As soon as things began to settle down, Gueira got himself on birth control, and they haven’t used a condom since. It drives Meis _crazy_ to see his come leaking out of Gueira, and he could spend hours playing with his come as it drips out of Gueira’s well-fucked hole. Of course, Gueira is never patient enough for Meis to get the chance to do so. 

“Please, baby, I want it,” Gueira complains.

“You like feeling me play with your creamy pussy?” Meis teases.

Gueira lets out a high-pitched moan as Meis slides his fingers through the mess of come inside his pussy. “Please, I need you to fuck me!”

Meis chuckles to himself. “Of course, puppy.” 

Meis turns the vibrator on and presses it against Gueira’s clit, relishing in the way that his hips jerk and he groans. He circles Gueira’s clit a few times before he slides it down and pushes it into his pussy. Gueira moans as Meis thrusts it in and out, in and out. The combination of lube, Gueira’s natural wetness, and Meis’ own come makes the slide easy, and there’s barely any resistance. Meis slides the vibrator in one last time and then leaves it deep inside of Gueira, still buzzing away. 

Meis turns his focus back to Gueira’s clit. Meis can feel Gueira’s entire body clench beneath him as he laps at his clit. He sucks the little bud into his mouth, and he keeps sucking as Gueira starts getting louder. As Meis sucks on Gueira's clit, he plays with the plug in his ass, pulling at it and then letting it go right before it pops out. It's like he's being fucked in both holes while Meis sucks him off, and it's easy to tell that Gueira is enjoying himself. He's whimpering and moaning desperately, pressing his hips up into Gueira's mouth eagerly. Suddenly, before he can even say anything, Gueira _erupts_.

Gueira almost never squirts, but it seems tonight is going to be the exception. The vibrator inside him disrupts the flow, but Meis moans as he feels the wetness against his chin and throat. Gueira sobs and moans as he comes and comes and _comes_. Meis doesn’t let up on his clit until Gueira is gently pushing his face away.

“The vibrator—”

“Shit, sorry,” Meis says, pulling it out and turning it off. He takes a moment to stare at the pretty sight of Gueira’s soaking wet pussy and butt plug literally dripping with the aftermath of his orgasm. Gueira reaches up to tug at Meis, urging him to lie back on top of him. Meis smiles as Gueira sighs happily and wraps his limbs around him.

“How was that, puppy?” Meis asks.

Gueira makes a vague noise.

“Good?”

Gueira nods.

“You squirted all over me, so I’m not surprised. We’re going to need to clean up; I’m all sticky and so are you. Would you like to join me in the shower?” Meis offers. "We'll need to take your plug out before you go to sleep, too." 

“In a minute,” Gueira mumbles.

It takes Meis more than a few minutes to coax Gueira out of bed and into the shower. When he finally gets him in there, they wash each other’s hair and somehow manage to keep groping to a minimum, even when Meis pulls Gueira's plug out and washes off the excess lube. They dry themselves off, then strip the dirty sheets and climb into bed with fresh ones.

They’re silent for a little while after that. Meis listens to the soothing pattern of Gueira’s breathing and strokes his hand up and down Gueira’s arm. Gueira presses kisses to the top of Meis’ head, and Meis fervently thanks himself for sitting next to Gueira at that bar all those years ago. He's never been so glad to have met anyone in his life, and the sudden wave of love he feels for Gueira is almost too much for his body to manage. 

“Do you really want to start working for Burning Rescue?” Gueira asks after a few minutes of silence.

“I don’t know,” Meis says. “Do you think we’d be good at that? Being firefighters?”

Gueira shrugs. “I mean, did you think you’d be any good at leading a Burnish rebellion group?”

“I guess not. But that just kind of happened, it’s not like it was a conscious decision.”

“Why don’t we try something different? Let’s get lame jobs somewhere stupid, and we can just be boring, normal people."

“Do you see yourself actually listening to your 20-year-old manager telling you that you need to clean a bathroom?” Meis points out.

Gueira huffs. “Okay, maybe not.”

“I’m just not sure I’m firefighter material. I can’t see as well as everyone else, and I’m not exactly the most reassuring face. Can you imagine me trying to save a kid like this?”

Meis looks up at Gueira and pulls his hair back to show off his scar. Gueira smiles dopily at him.

“I think you look hot as fuck. And, okay, you might be a little bit intimidating, but that’s just to anyone that doesn’t know you. I think if you’re saving someone’s life, they’ll probably be more scared of the fire than they are you.”

Meis rolls his eyes. “Thanks, babe, that’s so reassuring.”

Gueira taps his nose lightly. “You know what I mean. Yes, you’re a bit scary, but I think it’s just the initial shock. If anyone gives you any shit, I’ll set them on fire. Promare or not.”

Meis chuckles. “Thanks, baby. I’ll think about it.”

“There’s no rush. Galo would probably let us live here for the rest of our lives without ever charging us a cent.”

“That man is too nice for his own good.”

“Well, there’s no such thing as too nice when it comes to the boss,” Gueira says seriously.

“He’s the human equivalent of a puppy, and he’s exactly what Lio deserves,” Meis agrees.

“I thought I was puppy,” Gueira grumbles.

Meis kisses his forehead. “You’re _my_ puppy, he’s just _a_ puppy.”

“Oh. Good.”

“Besides, Lio can have a puppy of his own, can’t he? We all deserve nice things. We’ve gone through so much bullshit.”

Gueira tightens his arms around Meis. “I’ve got all the good things I need, right here.”

Meis snorts, reaching up to run his hand through the mess that Gueira calls his hair. Even when it’s damp from the shower, it’s just as unruly as ever. “You never really stop flirting, huh?”

“Nope! My endless flirting is what got me that cute guy I met in a bar all those years ago. It obviously works, why would I stop?”

And Meis has to agree; he’s not wrong. 

"I love you, baby." 

"I love you, too." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come watch the dumpster fire [on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet) I spend way too much time there.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What did you do?”
> 
> Gueira jumps out of his seat. “Okay, so, I might have done something ever so slightly impulsive.”
> 
> Meis drops his keys onto the table by the door and looks around the living room suspiciously. “What did you do?” he repeats slowly, still unsure as to whether he actually wants to know.
> 
> “And I know we haven’t ever talked about something like this, but I saw him in town and I just couldn’t just leave him there.”
> 
> “Who is he?” Meis asks. His stomach sinks uncomfortable when he realises what Gueira just said. “ _He?_ Are we talking about something _living_? Did you steal a baby?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep telling people that this chapter makes me cry and so many people have assumed it's sad? It's literally just fluff and some plot.
> 
> Also, this chapter puts me over 100,000 words of fanfic published this year! Catch me celebrating a fanfic milestone at home, completely alone, instead of being out at a raging New Year's party lmao

The day after Galo suggests they work for Burning Rescue, Meis goes out to get groceries alone. Gueira says that he has some stuff he needs to do in town, and Meis always appreciates a little alone time now and then. It gives him some space to think things over, and he certainly has plenty of thinking to do today.

Working for Burning Rescue certainly sounds like a good option. After all, Meis likes helping people; it’s why he was so curious to investigate the Burnish disappearances all those years ago. Part of it was just pure curiosity, sure, but he also wanted to see if there was anything he could do to help.

But _this_... this is different. When Meis thinks of a firefighter, he sees someone like Galo; bright and charismatic, smiling and friendly. He doesn’t think of someone like himself. He doesn’t see someone lanky and moody, and he definitely doesn’t see someone with a huge scar taking up half of their face.

Meis isn’t an idiot; he knows he looks unsettling. There’s a reason he keeps a long curtain of hair over his face when he’s in public. It’s a bit of a habit really; he already had long hair when he had his little “accident”, and his hair was a useful way of hiding his face as the wound was healing. After it was nothing more than a scar, he kept using his hair to hide from the world, and he’s done it ever since. 

And it’s ridiculous, but that’s the reason Meis is so worried about potentially joining Burning Rescue. It’s pretty high-profile work, especially working with Lio and Galo. They’re local celebrities, and it’s hard to leave the apartment with them without someone recognising them and wanting a photo or their autograph. Meis isn’t particularly thrilled about being in the public eye like that, especially when he won’t be able to hide away like he usually does. Having his hair loose while he works is definitely going to be a health and safety issue, and short of going full _Phantom of the Opera_ , there isn’t much that he’s going to be able to do about it. The scars are too rough and jagged to be hidden by make-up, so the only remaining option is just to grin and bear it. And Meis just doesn’t know if he’s brave enough to grin and bear it.

Meis can see the way that people look at his scar. He knows that it’s the first thing that people notice about him. He also knows that he’s probably more worried about his scar than anyone else is, but it’s impossible to ignore the way people look at him. He might be partially blind, but he would have to be completely blind not to notice.

In the grand scheme of things, being worried about tying his hair up at work is such a tiny thing, it hardly warrants so much stress. And yet, even though Meis knows that it’s a stupid reason to hold himself back from moving on with his life, but it’s a worry he just can’t seem to shake. It scares him, the thought of having to show the world the one thing about himself that really bothers him.

Meis doesn’t like being afraid. He doesn’t like admitting that he’s afraid, not to himself or to anyone else. He can’t believe that something as mundane as tying his hair up for work is enough to cause him all this stress. Meis is suddenly very glad that Gueira is off doing whatever it is that he’s doing. He’s glad for the chance to quietly freak out about all of this on his own. Well, as ‘on his own’ as he can be while walking around the supermarket in the middle of the day.

Meis sighs and lets his gaze slide over the aisle in front of him. He hasn’t been paying even the slightest amount of attention to actually doing the shopping. He has picked up a few bits and pieces, but he didn’t bring a list, so he’s definitely going to have missed something they’ll need to make dinner. He’ll probably have to come back later, but that’s fine. He can bully Gueira into coming with him, and that’s always fun. Gueira isn’t the most helpful person to take on errands like doing the shopping, but he spends the entire time coming up with weird jokes and puns based on product names, so it’s always entertaining. On one memorable occasion, Gueira got them kicked out of the supermarket because he made a ‘nut butter’ joke in front of some kids. While it had been a wildly inappropriate joke to share in the presence of children, Meis didn’t think it was bad enough for their uptight mother to make a complaint to the store manager, but then what did he know? 

After wandering around the supermarket for close to half an hour without actually picking anything up, Meis decides that it’s time to give up and go home. He stays lost in his thoughts as he walks back to their apartment. He is then yanked brutally from those thoughts when he walks into their living room and spots Gueira sitting in the living room. They make eye contact, and Meis just _knows_ that something is up.

“What did you do?”

Gueira jumps out of his seat. “Okay, so, I might have done something ever so slightly impulsive.”

Meis drops his keys onto the table by the door and looks around the living room suspiciously. “What did you do?” he repeats slowly, still unsure as to whether he actually wants to know.

“And I know we haven’t ever talked about something like this, but I saw him in town and I just couldn’t just leave him there.”

“Who is he?” Meis asks. His stomach sinks uncomfortably when he realises what Gueira just said. “ _He?_ Are we talking about something _living_? Did you steal a baby?”

“I didn’t steal a baby, no.”

“That wasn’t a no to it being living.”

“You’re not allergic to cats, right? I should have checked that first. Oh my god, I should have checked that first. Please don’t make me get rid of him; we can get you some antihistamines!”

“You bought a cat,” Meis says. “You bought a _cat_ while I was out getting groceries. You bought him, right? Please don’t tell me you saw him on someone’s front porch and stole him.”

“I bought him; I’ve got the paperwork and everything,” Gueira says quickly. “Look, before you say anything else, just come and see him. I think you’re going to love him. I’ve only known him for like an hour, and I would fucking die for him.”

Meis sighs but follows Gueira when he leads them down the hallway to their bedroom. “Do Lio and Galo know you’ve brought a cat into the apartment? Are we even allowed pets?”

“I got Galo to talk to the landlady, and she’s making an exception for us.”

Meis laughs humourlessly. “Okay, well at least your impulse purchase isn’t going to get us all evicted.”

“Okay, you need to be quiet, he’s still a bit nervous.”

Meis nods, and then Gueira lets them into their bedroom. He shuts the door behind them as Meis approaches the carry cage. He peers inside and — _oh_.

The cat only has one eye.

The right side of his face is covered with brutal scarring, and the eye has been completely removed. He has a beautiful chocolate brown coat and one yellow eye, and the longer Meis spends looking at him, the more he notices other nicks and scars covering the cat’s body.

“I like to go look at animal shelters sometimes, and the guy said that no one wanted him,” Gueira says. “But he’s the sweetest thing in the world if you take the time to get to know him.”

Meis crouches down and holds his hand out. The cat is curled up at the far end of the cage, but after a moment he shifts forward to sniff Meis’ hand. After a tense few seconds, he leans forward and smooches against Meis’ hand, letting out a rumbly, stuttering purr.

“Oh,” Meis laughs breathlessly. “Oh.” He can feel the tears welling up already.

“I know you worry about your scar, and I wanted to show you that it’s easy to love someone with one. He’s a bit of a shock at first, but that’s not his fault. You just need to get to know him beyond his appearance. Some people won’t, but you just have to wait for the people who will.”

“Oh, Gueira,” Meis says, trying desperately to hold back his tears. “I can’t believe you.”

Gueira’s soft smile falls slightly. “Do... do you not like him?”

Meis turns to him and lets the tears run freely. “I love him so much. I love _you_ so much. I can’t believe you would get me a one-eyed cat just to make me feel better.”

Gueira crouches down and pulls Meis into a tight hug. Meis keeps one hand free to keep stroking the cat while he clings to Gueira. The cat has a loud, bizarre purr, almost like he’s trying to hum while there’s something stuck in his throat. It’s a rough and unsteady sound, and it starts and stops weirdly. He looks back up at Meis, still purring loudly, and Meis falls in love with him all over again. 

“Meis, I would get you the fucking moon if I knew it would make you happy,” Gueira says.

Meis snuffles and cries into Gueira’s shoulder. He’s getting tears and snot and saliva all over Gueira’s shirt, but he doesn’t care.

“I love you, so much,” Meis manages between sobs. “Fuck, I really fucking love you.”

“I love you, too, Meisie. So much.”

They stay like that for a little while. The cat pushes up against Meis and rubs along his leg affectionately. Meis keeps crying into Gueira’s shoulder, just too overwhelmed with happiness and love to stop.

“What’s his name?” Meis manages after a few minutes of tears.

Gueira grins. “Oh, you’re going to get a kick out of this.”

“I swear to god, if you managed to find a cat called Gueira Junior, I am leaving you.”

Gueira smirks. “It’s even better than that.”

“Please, just put me out of my misery and tell me what the cat is called.”

“His name is Turnip, because he just turned up one day. Get it? Turn up sounds like Turnip! Get it? You get it, right? Turnip?” Gueira looks far too pleased with himself at this, and Meis can't even find it in himself to get mad about the pun. 

“Turnip. I love him. I love you. Oh my god, Gueira, I love you so much.”

Gueira laughs. “I love you, too, you vain idiot. You’re the fucking sexiest man I have ever met, and now you’ve got a sexy cat to match.”

Meis snorts. “Please don’t call our cat sexy.”

“Hey, what can I say? I’m a man that appreciates a good scar.”

Meis laughs and pulls Gueira in for a kiss.

“Thank you,” Meis murmurs against his lips.

“For you, cowboy? Any time.”

~...~

When Lio and Galo get home, they demand to meet Turnip, too. Turnip seems to appreciate Lio’s calm demeanour but will barely tolerate Galo’s significantly less calm demeanour. Initially, Galo is upset that Turnip won’t come and sit on his lap, but Lio promises that he will once he gets a bit more used to everything. That seems to be enough for Galo, who beams at Turnip where he’s cautiously testing out Lio’s lap where he’s sitting across the room. 

To Meis’ delight, over the next few days, it does begin to look like Turnip likes him the most out of the four of them. Meis suspects it has a lot to do with the fact that Meis knows not to sneak up on his blind side. And, to be fair, Gueira is pretty good at not doing that either. It’s all due to years spent with Meis, including a month that he spent wearing an eyepatch out of solidarity (plus a fair amount of curiosity).

Meis didn’t think it was going to work. He certainly didn’t doubt that Gueira bought Turnip with the best intentions, but he never thought having a cat with a matching scar would make him feel that much better about his own. And yet, as the days and weeks pass, Meis comes to see what Gueira means. Turnip’s scar is glaringly obvious, and maybe even a bit alarming, but once you’ve gotten over the initial shock, it’s just another thing about him. Meis has never met another cat like him; he has almost too much personality for his small body to contain, and you only have to spend a few minutes with him to fall in love with him.

The fact of the matter is that people are always going to be freaked out by Meis’ scar. It’s probably always going to be one of the first things they notice about him, but it’s just something to get used to. And it’s like Gueira said; people will probably take the scary-looking firefighter over burning to death.

“Let’s do it,” Meis says at breakfast a few weeks after the arrival of Turnip.

“Right here?” Gueira asks, eyebrows raised. “You know how Galo feels about sex in communal areas—”

“No, I mean let’s join Burning Rescue. Let’s be firefighters.”

“Oh!” Gueira leans back in his chair and laughs. “I thought you were talking about sex!”

“Who’s talking about sex?” Lio asks, emerging from the corridor.

“No, we’re _not_ talking about sex!” Meis groans.

“Why are we talking about sex?” Galo asks, following Lio into the kitchen.

“We’re not—ugh, never mind.”

“Meis and I are going to take you up on the job offer, big blue,” Gueira says.

Galo gasps. “Really? You guys want to join Burning Rescue too?”

“Yeah,” Meis says. He looks back to Gueira, who nods. “I think it’ll be good for us.”

“Our days of arson are over, baby!” Gueira cheers.

Lio snorts. “Oh yeah, and that wasn’t you playing with a lighter that I saw the other day then, huh?”

Gueira splutters.

“And I suppose Galo is the one that has stashed boxes of matches through the entire apartment?” Meis asks.

Lio glares at him. “Touché.”

“Okay, this is all slightly alarming information, and we might need to talk about this later, but if you guys are serious, we’d love to have you on the team,” Galo says. “Uh, Meis, I don’t want to be that guy, but—”

“No, it’s fine. I know I probably won’t be able to be as hands-on as everyone else, but I’d still like to help out where I can.” Only having one working eye has never really been anything more than a nuisance to Meis, but he’s aware that it could be a bit of an issue in an emergency. He isn’t particularly enthusiastic about the idea of misjudging a step and falling out of a burning building, even if it would make a quick escape. 

Galo nods. “It’s okay, you can talk to the captain, and I’m sure you’ll be able to work something out. You were a leader of Mad Burnish for years; it clearly doesn’t hold you back.”

“Honestly, my scar bothers me more than anything else,” Meis says quietly. He’s not sure why he’s admitting this to Galo. It’s a weakness that he doesn’t particularly like sharing. And yet, Galo just seems like someone he can trust with something like this. Gueira and Lio already know how he feels about his scar, so it’s not as though it’s a big revelation, but still. 

“I get what you mean, a little bit.” Galo gestures to his arm. “I know it’s not the same thing, but people always look at my scars when I go out without my sleeve on. It’s uncomfortable.”

Meis goes to answer, but Turnip interrupts by screeching loudly from the doorway. Meis turns to talk to the furry little nuisance instead. “You alright there, bud?” 

Turnip continues meowing loudly as he makes his way across the kitchen. Meis puts his legs together just in time for Turnip to jump onto his lap, rumbling loudly.

Gueira chuckles. “He heard you talking about scars, and he wanted to join in.”

“He’s the prettiest out of all the three of us, aren’t you?” Meis coos.

Turnip meows loudly, and Meis could swear he’s giving them all a smug smile.

~...~

Gueira and Meis have to do some basic aptitude tests, and Meis spends some time with Ignis working out what he can and can’t do with his limited sight. He ends up working with Lucia to develop a specialised mech with lots of visual assistance. It’s not a perfect replacement for a missing eye, but it’s definitely close. It gives audio warnings for things coming up in his blind spot and displays information in a way that won’t interfere with Meis’ limited field of view. It’s amazing, and Meis is almost excited to take it for a spin.

In general, only having one functional eye isn’t really an issue for Meis. There was definitely a bit of an adjustment period after he lost it, and to this day he still has to be extra careful when pouring drinks. And yes, it also means he has to be careful when he wants to do things like touch Gueira’s face. On several occasions, Meis has stabbed Gueira in the eye, the mouth, and once he even managed to shove a finger up Gueira’s nose. To be fair, that might have had more to do with the copious amounts of alcohol in his system than anything else.

But, anyway, he’s pretty used to only having one eye. His right eye has been gone long enough that he’s used to it, and it’s more of an annoyance than anything else. Meis’ only real issue is the way that people react to his scar. Combined with the milky white eye, it’s not pretty. He can’t even hide it with a sleeve like Galo does. An eyepatch wouldn’t even come close to hiding his scar, and it would probably just draw even more attention.

So, really, Meis isn’t all that bothered when Ignis says he’ll probably always have to have someone with him when he’s working. Typically, they always try to send people out to jobs with at least one other person. But sometimes solo missions are the only way to manage lots of small jobs when they’re really swamped. Gueira is appointed to be Meis’ work buddy, and then Lio is his back-up if Gueira isn’t available.

A small part of Meis feels like he should be upset that all of this is necessary. It almost feels like he’s being babied, or just isn’t trusted to handle things on his own. He was a leader of Mad Burnish; one of the most feared organisations to exist in recent years. He was a formidable fighter, a master strategist, and a frightfully powerful Burnish. He doesn’t need a _babysitter_.

The rational part of his brain quickly shuts these kinds of thoughts down. Meis knows they’re irrational. He’s spent a good amount of time at the station working with Lucia and getting to know the rest of the crew. No one has treated him differently because of his eye or his scar. And yet, it’s still hard for Meis to get used to. He keeps his hair over his face whenever he can, and he avoids hanging out with everyone all at once. It took a little while for him to trust Galo, so suddenly having what feels like a whole crowd of new people around is a bit overwhelming.

And even though he’s still a bit unsure and nervous and overwhelmed at times, Meis quickly comes to love his time with Burning Rescue. They’ve yet to officially have their first shift, but they’ve still been doing plenty of training, and it’s nice to have a purpose again. It’s been months since the debacle with the Parnassus, and Meis is finally beginning to feel himself settling into a new sense of normalcy.

If Meis weren’t so happy, he would be disgusted with how domesticated he’d become in just a few short months. Now, nothing makes him happier than taking the scenic route on the way home from work, feeling the cool air on his skin (and not his hair, because they wear helmets on their bikes now) as he enjoys the view of the vibrant and colourful city around him. Nothing makes him happier than coming home to his husband and their cat and their best friend and his boyfriend who is rapidly becoming their friend too. Nothing makes Meis happier than giving his husband a kiss while also giving his cat a good scratch behind the ears (it’s harder to tell whether Turnip or Gueira is more excited to see him come through the front door, and they always fight for his attention). It’s gross and mushy, and yet Meis can’t think of anything he loves more.

Meis had always figured things would stay the same; they would spend the rest of their lives with Mad Burnish and probably end up being killed by Freeze Force before they ever got to see the world change. Meis had never thought he might get to have his happy ending. 

“Thank you for getting me a cat,” Meis says. He’s lying against Gueira’s front, and he can feel Turnip curled up against his back.

“Honestly, I mostly got him so I could start telling people we had a son,” Gueira teases.

“You’re a menace.”

“Yeah, but I’m your menace.”

Meis snorts. “Yeah, you are.”

Turnip meows loudly.

“Yeah, you too,” Meis says. He gives Turnip a quick scratch under his chin and then leans up to press a kiss to Gueira’s cheek. That night, Meis falls asleep to the rumbling purr of his cat and the steady breathing of his husband. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HA, YOU FOOLS! YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE SOMETHING BAD! I TOLD YOU IT WAS GOING TO BE FINE! HA! I WIN! 
> 
> Also please tell me I'm not the only one that cried about Gueira buying Meis a one-eyed cat to make him feel better! 
> 
> But yeah, come hang out [on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet) I spend way too much time there.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You can’t imagine life without him, right?” Meis asks.
> 
> “Yeah," Galo says dreamily. "Or, no. I don’t know what I’d do without him at this point.”
> 
> “Yeah, I know what you mean,” Meis says. “It’s like you’ve found the person that perfectly complements you. And you weren’t missing anything before you knew them, but if they left now, they’d take a part of you with them.”
> 
> Gueira whistles from where he’s sitting behind them. “You two have got it _bad_.”

After a few months of rigorous training and testing, Meis and Gueira are finally ready for their first day as official members of Burning Rescue. Meis is, to put it bluntly, shitting himself. Tomorrow, he’s going to step out into the world as a firefighter. Tomorrow, he’s going to have to climb into an obnoxious red uniform, pull his hair back, and show off this new version of himself for the entire world to see.

Now, any reasonable person would be nervous. Who doesn’t get nervous on their first day of a new job? _That’s_ totally understandable. Meis’ fear of the ‘pulling his hair back’ part of his first day may not be so universal. To anyone else, it’s a silly, menial thing. But to Meis, it’s nothing short of terrifying. Up until this point, most of his life has been spent trying to keep himself, and his scar, out of the limelight. Meis has never really much enjoyed being the centre of attention, but as one of Lio’s right-hand men, it’s almost impossible to avoid.

After the Second World Blaze, as part of the conditions of being allowed to walk free, Meis is made to attend weekly counselling sessions. It takes him weeks to properly open up to his therapist and start trying out the things she suggests to him. In preparation for going out into the public eye with Burning Rescue, Meis is tasked with taking small steps like tying his hair tied up at home, then moving to keeping it up for trips into town.

Meis had never been worried about Gueira or Lio seeing his eye. It doesn't take long for him to get comfortable with Galo seeing it, either. But his first trip to the supermarket with his hair up is nothing short of a disaster. He takes Gueira and Lio with him for support, which is fine until Lio is accosted by a group of kids asking if he's _the_ Lio Fotia. When Lio reluctantly admits that he is, one of the kids turns to Meis and asks if being Burnish had been the cause of his “messed up eye”. The next thing Meis knows, he's curled up on the floor of the walk-in cooler with Gueira wrapped protectively around him. They abandon the trip after that, and Lio quietly apologises to him in the car on the way home, but Meis’ confidence is shot. It takes him nearly two weeks to leave the apartment again after that.

So, while the ‘average’ person would be nervous about the pressure of a first day on the job, there’s a little bit more to it for Meis.

Having a therapist is definitely helpful. Nowadays, Meis finds himself looking forward to their sessions. It’s nice to have someone he can unload everything on without worrying about worrying them or burdening them with more than they can handle. Between Gueira, Lio and Galo, there’s not much that Meis doesn’t feel safe sharing with at least one of them, but it’s still nice having a neutral party to share things with.

No one quite understands his fears like Galo does, and Meis occasionally finds himself talking to Galo about their scars. Neither Gueira nor Lio have anything to match Galo or Meis, and it’s nice to have someone who understands what it’s like to have such visible physical trauma. Gueira and Lio know what it’s like to undergo a rapid, involuntary transformation. They don’t know what it’s like to have that visible for everyone to see, whether they want to show it or not. They could hide being Burnish; Meis can’t will his scar to fade away just because he doesn’t want other people to look at it.

On the night before his first official shift with Burning Rescue, Meis finds himself sitting at the kitchen bench with Galo. “It’s going to be fine, Meis,” Galo says. “Trust me. The rest of Burning Rescue has seen my arm, and they’ve never said anything to me about it. Well, they’ve asked about how it’s healing, but that’s it. They’re not going to give you any shit, I promise.”

“It’s not them I’m worried about,” Meis says. “It’s everyone else. I’m going to be out dealing with the public, and everyone is going to see me. I can’t hide in the station anymore. I can’t hide this.” Meis gestures to his face. “I can’t make it go away. I don’t like looking like this.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Meis sighs heavily. “I just... I don’t know how to be a normal person. I’ve been a leader of Mad Burnish for so long; I don’t know how to be a normal person anymore. I just feel like I’m making such a big deal out of nothing. A normal person wouldn’t be sitting here freaking out about people seeing their scar. _Fuck_ , I don’t even know what I’m afraid of anymore.”

Galo is quiet for a moment before he speaks again. “You know, you don’t have to do this if you really don’t want to.”

“What do you mean?”

“Joining Burning Rescue. If you need more time—”

“No, no,” Meis says quickly. “I do want to do this. I can’t let Gueira go off and do something stupid without me.”

“But what about you?”

“What about me?”

“When was the last time you did something just for yourself?” Galo asks. “You’ve been Gueira _and_ Meis for as long as I’ve known you. You do everything together. And it’s great that you can share your lives with each other, but you’re your own person, too. You can go out and do whatever you want now; you’re free to start living your life. If being a firefighter isn’t your thing, then you can go out and find something else.”

Meis hums. “I... yeah. I guess.”

“And if you want to take some more time to figure things out, I don’t think anyone would be upset. You’ve been through so much.”

Meis sighs heavily. “I guess. I just... I want to get out and do this, even though I’m terrified.”

Galo smiles. “That’s the spirit!” Then, he proceeds to give Meis a hearty slap on the back that nearly knocks him off his seat.

Later, Meis spends the evening on their bed being lovingly worshipped by his husband. As Gueira presses unnecessarily wet kisses along his scar and over his eye, Meis can’t help but smile.

~...~

The next morning, they’re awake and ready to go before the sun has even begun to rise. Turnip doesn’t appreciate being woken earlier than usual, but he warms up to the situation once he realises that he’s going to be fed earlier, too.

Meis is staring at himself in their bedroom mirror when Gueira finds him.

“Looking good, babe,” Gueira says, leaning in for a kiss. “Red really does suit you. I knew I was on to something there.”

“And it clashes horribly with your hair,” Meis chuckles. “You pull it off, though.”

“I could make a rubbish bag look good, and you know it!”

Meis laughs as Gueira strikes a ridiculous pose. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.”

“You two ready to go?” Lio calls from down the corridor.

“Just making ourselves beautiful!” Gueira shouts back.

“We don’t have time for the amount of work that would take, get your asses out here!”

Meis chuckles at the offended look on Gueira’s face, and then he herds him out into the living room.

“Everyone ready to go?” Galo asks, practically vibrating out of his skin with excitement.

“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Meis says. He looks down at himself, then over to the others, and snorts.

“What’s so funny?” Lio asks.

“Look at us,” Meis gestures down at himself. “We’re firefighters. Whatever happened to leading the most infamous arson terrorist group in the country?”

Gueira slings an arm around Meis’ shoulder. “That’s called character growth, baby.”

Meis smiles. He’s still nervous, but having Gueira by his side makes him feel so much better. But then again, there’s never a situation that Gueira hasn’t made better just by being there.

Meis takes a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Turnip winds around Meis’ feet as he tries to get out the front door. He meows loudly until Meis gives him a quick pat on the head, and then he trots back over to his bed by the window. Soon, it’ll be bathed in sunlight, and Turnip will be too busy enjoying it to remember that he has been abandoned. He’ll be sure to give them an earful when they get back. 

“Aw, babe, he wanted to say goodbye,” Gueira says. “We have the cutest son.”

“You need to stop calling him your son,” Lio says. “You’re confusing people. Someone left me an angry message last week because you didn’t invite them to the baby shower.”

“We should have had a baby shower!” Gueira gasps.

“ _That’s not the point!_ ”

Galo and Meis laugh as Lio and Gueira squabble down all four flights of stairs.

~...~

Their first shift goes without a hitch. They won’t be getting involved in anything too serious this early on, so it’s pretty uneventful. Galo says that a slow start is pretty standard for newbies. It’s safer for them to observe the team in action and get a sense of how they work before getting involved themselves. Aina overhears Galo explaining this and wastes no time interrupting him.

“Oh sure, because covering yourself in goo and shooting yourself into a burning building is a perfect example of sitting back and ‘observing the team’.”

“That’s different! It was an emergency!” Galo protests.

“Yeah, yeah, of course it was.” Aina rolls her eyes.

They’re in the middle of giving one of the trucks a deep clean when their first call of the day comes in; a small fire in an apartment complex nearby. Since the Burnish are Burnish no more, Burning Rescue only has to deal with regular old fires. According to Galo, it’s a lot less exciting around here than it used to be, but they’re making do.

The job is quick and easy, and it’s all over in less than an hour. Afterwards, Galo and Meis end up talking to the occupant of the apartment where the fire started. When Meis steps out from behind Galo, the woman’s gaze immediately flashes to Meis’ scar. It lingers for barely a second before she looks back to Galo, and Meis mentally lets out a sigh of relief. The woman doesn’t even really say much to Meis, too busy listening to Galo explaining some basic fire safety tips. She thanks them for saving her extensive collection of houseplants, and then they’re done.

They head back to the station, and then Meis and Gueira are roped into helping Lio with some paperwork for the Burnish shelter. Later in the afternoon, they’re called to go rescue a cat from a tree. Lio has to go to a meeting at the town hall with Ignis, so it’ll just be Meis, Gueira and Galo again. They load up into the smaller truck, and they’re off.

“Do people actually call the fire department when this happens?” Meis asks. “I thought that was a joke.”

“It’s not often, but it does happen,” Galo says. “It makes sense when you think about it. We’ve got all the equipment to get into those hard to reach places. And now that we’re not so busy, we’ve got more time for this kind of stuff.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Lio is going to be so mad that he’s missing this,” Galo says, smiling fondly. “He _loves_ getting to return pets to kids; it makes him light up like you wouldn’t believe. Well, you guys have known Lio for longer than I have, I guess you probably would believe it.”

“Yep,” Gueira agrees. “The boss is a sucker for a happy kid.”

“Yeah,” Galo sighs dreamily. “He’s great. He’s so nice, and he cares about everyone. I’ve never met anyone like him.”

“Oh boy, somebody has got it bad,” Gueira cackles.

From where Meis is sitting beside Galo in the front of the truck, he can see Galo’s face go a bright red.

“Yeah, _okay_ , I really like Lio. He’s just... I don’t know. He’s so passionate about everything that he does. And he’s so brave and kind, even though he’s been through so much. He just makes me happy, you know?”

Meis smiles. “I know exactly what you mean.”

“We’re slightly biased because we already love the boss, but Galo, you have found yourself a keeper!” Gueira says.

“Trust me, I am going to do everything I can to keep Lio. I mean, I’ll let him go if he wants to leave. I’m not going to hold him hostage. I just mean—”

“You can’t imagine life without him, right?” Meis asks.

“Yeah," Galo says dreamily. "Or, no. I don’t know what I’d do without him at this point.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Meis says. “It’s like you’ve found the person that perfectly complements you. And you weren’t missing anything before you knew them, but if they left now, they’d take a part of you with them.”

Gueira whistles from where he’s sitting behind them. “You two have got it _bad_.”

Meis turns around to look at Gueira. “Shut up, you idiot; you’re just as disgusting when we’re alone.”

“Don’t admit that in front of other people!”

Meis chuckles and turns back to Galo. “You didn’t hear it from me, but Lio definitely likes you just as much as you like him. He’s just an emotionally-constipated idiot who is terrible at expressing himself.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh.”

“You’re lucky that you’re a good guy, and that we know you want the best for Lio. Trust me, Galo Thymos, we are not the kind of people that you want on your bad side.”

Galo gulps. “Yeah, I figured that out a little while ago.”

“Good. And, as long as you keep doing the very best that you possibly can for Lio, we won’t have a problem.”

“Okay.” Galo nods.

“Ooh, are we threatening Galo now?” Gueira sounds positively gleeful.

“No, we’re just having a civil conversation. There’s no reason to threaten anyone who isn’t going to do anything wrong, right, Galo?” Meis grins at Galo in a way that he knows is unsettling.

Meis can practically see Galo sweating. “Right! Yeah!”

“The boss is going to kill you, Meis, if he finds out you’ve been threatening his boyfriend.”

“I’m not scared of him,” Meis scoffs. “Besides, I have my big, strong husband to protect me.”

Meis looks back to see Gueira puffing up his chest. “Damn right, you do!”

“Okay, this is us,” Galo interrupts. He pulls into a driveway, and they pile out of the truck. Meis hears a shout, and then a small child comes sprinting out of the house to collide with Galo’s legs.

“Mr Galo! Fluffy got stuck in the tree again!”

“Hey, Westley, we’re going to get her down as soon as we can. I brought some friends with me to help!”

“Mr Lio?” Westley asks, looking around in excitement. 

“Not today, I’m afraid. This is Gueira and Meis.”

Westley looks over to them, and immediately zeros in on Meis. “Woah, what happened to your eye?”

“Uh...” Meis goes to respond but realises he’s not sure what to tell a child. The truth is a little morbid, but if he doesn’t tell him something, chances are he’ll keep harassing him about it. As Meis starts to panic, Gueira swoops in and saves the day.

“It’s Meis’ magic eye! It can see the future!”

“Why’s it look all funny?”

“Hey, that’s a bit rude,” Gueira chides gently. “It’s just different, is all.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I was just wondering.”

“That’s okay,” Meis says.

“So you can see the future? Is Fluffy going to be okay?”

“She’s going to be just fine, don’t worry,” Galo assures him.

“Oh, good.”

Then, a woman emerges from the front door. “Oh, Galo, I’m so sorry to have called you back out here again.”

Galo waves his hand dismissively. “It’s fine Mrs Harris, it’s what we’re here for!”

“Still, I can’t help feel like Fluffy deliberately gets stuck up that tree, sometimes.”

“Mom! Fluffy wouldn’t do that! He’s just learning!” Westley protests.

“Right, sorry, of course. I’ll just let you guys get to it, then.”

“Thanks Mrs Harris!” Galo calls to her as she ducks back into the house. “Okay, we’ll just need the ladder for this one. Gueira, you’re lighter than I am, so you can go up the tree and grab him.”

The actual rescue of the cat is pretty simple. Galo and Meis retrieve the ladder and stand below to keep it steady while Gueira climbs up to rescue Fluffy. “I cannot believe we’re actually rescuing a cat from a tree,” Meis says flatly.

Galo chuckles. “Fluffy is a special case.”

Before Meis can ask any follow-up questions, Gueira shouts from above. “I’m about to make contact!”

Then, there’s a loud hiss and a series of screeches, and Gueira is too deep in the greenery for Meis to be able to tell whether it’s Gueira or the cat making all the noise. Gueira starts his descent, and as he comes into view it becomes clear that Fluffy has apparently decided that he doesn’t want to be rescued from the tree. Every inch of bare skin on Gueira’s body is covered in scratches.

Gueira steps off the ladder and promptly deposits the furious cat into Westley’s arms.

“Thank you, Mr Gueira!” Westley gushes, crushing the unimpressed Fluffy in a tight hug. “And Mr Galo! And Mr Meis!”

“You’re welcome, kid. Take care of him.” Gueira’s smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He gives Westley’s hair a playful ruffle and then tries to pat Fluffy, who just growls angrily. Wisely, Gueira snatches his hand back.

“Oh, are you guys done already?” Mrs Harris calls from the doorstep. “Do you want to come in and have a drink?”

“Thanks Mrs Harris, but we’ve got to get back to the station,” Galo says. “I’m sure we’ll see you around again!”

Mrs Harris rolls her eyes. “I swear, we must have the only cat on the planet who hasn’t learnt how to climb back out of trees. I’m so sorry to be a bother again!”

“Don’t worry about it, Burning Rescue is always happy to help!”

And with that, they load back into the truck. Gueira drops into a seat and groans. “Everything stings. It hurts. I’m dying.” 

“It’s like that time you fell into that clump of cacti,” Meis snorts.

“Stop laughing at my suffering!”

“Here, you’ll be fine. Give the worst of the scratches a rinse and pat them dry, and then we can patch you up properly when we get back to base.” Galo hands Gueira a couple of water bottles and a small towel.

“Am I going to get rabies? Is this how I go out? Someone needs to tell Turnip that I love him!”

“You’re not going to die, you dramatic idiot,” Meis says, softening the blow with a quick kiss to the forehead. “Also, I’m slightly insulted you thought of Turnip before me.”

“Oh, trust me, baby, I was thinking about you. It just wasn’t anything appropriate to say out loud.” Gueira takes one of the water bottles and squirts it over his arm, hissing as the water runs over the scratches. “Turnip would never do me dirty like this.”

“He was just scared. He’ll get used to you once he’s seen you a few more times,” Galo says.

“ _A few more times_? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, Fluffy gets stuck in a tree at least once a month. And since it’s such a low-risk job, it’s always for the rookies to deal with. You two are going to become very familiar with that cat.”

Gueira turns to Meis, a dark look in his eye. “Meis, I don’t care if you miss a step and fall to your death, you’re getting him out of the tree next time.”

“Aw, puppy, I love you too.”

Gueira just glares and then goes back to putting water on his scratches. 

~...~

Life continues much like that for the next couple of weeks. Meis and Gueira work smaller jobs, and they tag along to watch the bigger ones. It’ll be a while until they’re ready to get into the thick of the action with the rest of the squad, but Meis doesn’t mind. It’s all a lot to take in at once, and he doesn’t mind taking his time getting used to things.

Whenever Meis meets anyone, they almost always look at his scar first. Occasionally they’ll grimace or openly stare, but so far, the only people to actually say anything are curious kids. At first, Meis never knows what to tell them, so he lets Gueira come up with his own ridiculous explanations; each more ridiculous than the last. It ranges from a fight with an alligator, all the way to not eating enough vegetables as a kid. Of course, Gueira also takes the time to explain to the kids why they should be careful asking about things like scars, in case they upset someone. It’s very sweet.

Meis loves watching Gueira interact with kids. He always seems to know the right thing to do or say, and they’ve never met a kid who didn’t love Gueira. Meis asks Gueira where he learnt to be so good with kids, and Gueira tells him about all of his younger cousins. He was the eldest out of the cousins in his family, so he was always tasked with keeping them entertained at family gatherings.

“They’re the only ones I miss, really,” Gueira says. He sighs heavily. “Everyone else in my family was kind of terrible, but they were always fun. Whenever I got roped into playing families with them, they’d let me pretend to be the dad or the big brother, and they never had a problem with it. My cousins were all pretty cool.”

Meis hugs Gueira extra tightly that night.

Meis doesn’t want kids. He didn’t want them when he was younger, and he doesn’t want them now. But, he has to admit, he likes watching Gueira with them. It’s strangely attractive how good Gueira is with kids. It forces a microscopic part of Meis to begrudgingly admit to himself that maybe having kids with Gueira might possibly not be so bad.

But then Meis thinks about all the strange fluids they produce, and how expensive they are, and he goes right back to never wanting kids. All they have to do is wait for Galo and Lio to have kids. Then, Meis can watch Gueira be the fun uncle, and he can enjoy all the cuteness without the stress of being a parent himself.

After a little while, Meis joins in on the game of making up silly explanations for his scar. It’s strangely therapeutic, being able to joke about it. After a while, he and Gueira start a bit of a competition to see who can come up with the most ridiculous story. They even manage to convince Galo that Meis got his scar after a tragic rollerblading accident. That only lasts a few hours until Lio comes in and ruins their fun by informing Galo that they are just messing with him. 

So, for a little while, Meis is beginning to think that things are going to be okay. That, maybe, he really was getting worked up over his scar over nothing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for this tentative faith in humanity to be well and truly shattered.

It happens at the site of a larger fire. Meis is working down in the truck with Lucia. She’s managing the tech side of things while Meis keeps track of the team in the building. When he can, he’s also doing a bit of crowd control. When people start getting too close, he hops out of the truck to try and shoo them away. Meis had thought that they’d be more worried about being squashed by the parts of a falling building, but apparently not.

“Everyone, you need to back up. The building could start dropping debris, and I do not want to have to scrape what’s left of you off the pavement if you’re too close when it happens.”

“Hey, what the fuck is your problem?” A single raised voice carries over the crowd. 

Meis turns to his right just in time to see a man ducking under the barrier. He starts making his way over to Meis. 

“Sir, I’m sorry, but you need to stay behind the barrier.”

“I’ve been trying to get your fucking attention, and you were just ignoring me. What was I supposed to do?”

Meis sighs. “Look, I’m sorry, I can’t actually see much on my right side.”

“Jesus, they must be desperate if they’re letting freaks like you be firefighters.”

Meis stares at the man for a second, quietly contemplating punching him right in the face. But, no, that seems like the sort of thing that would get him in trouble with the captain. He doesn’t want to create trouble for Galo.

“You live in this building?” Meis asks.

“Obviously, that’s why I was trying—”

“What do you do for a living?”

“What?” the man asks, clearly confused.

“Are you a firefighter?”

“No.”

“Great, then I’d like to respectfully ask you to stop wasting my time and get back behind the barrier. We’ve got actual work to do that isn’t babysitting you.”

The man snorts. “I wouldn’t want to be a firefighter, anyway, not if it’ll fuck up your face like that.”

Meis takes a deep breath. He imagines, in glorious detail, just how good it would feel to punch this guy right in the face. Or, how much better it would be to just incinerate him on the spot. Instead, he takes another deep breath. “Great, so you’ll need to get back behind the barrier if you don’t want to sign up.”

The man grumbles the whole way back.

Meis climbs back into the truck with Lucia and sighs. She gives him a concerned look. “You alright?”

“Yeah. No. I don’t know. I just want to get back to work.”

Lucia nods and hands him back the headset. “For what it’s worth, I’d probably have punched that asshole right in the teeth. Good job for keeping your cool.”

“I hate being a responsible adult, sometimes.”

“It’s okay, you can just take all of your frustrations out on Gueira’s ass later.”

Meis laughs. “Hell yeah, I will.”

“Guys, your comms are on,” Lio’s voice interrupts.

“Babe, you can take your anger out on my ass any day of the week,” Gueira says.

“ _We don’t want to hear about it_ ,” Lio hisses.

“Gueira, we’ll talk about it later,” Meis promises. “Everyone else, how’s it going?”

And with that, they’re back to business.

~...~

When they clock out that night, Gueira pulls Meis to the side before they leave. He strokes a hand gently down Meis’ face. “Are you okay?”

Meis immediately knows what he’s talking about. He shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m surprised it took this long for something like that to happen.”

“It fucking shouldn’t have happened. Who the fuck thinks that sort of bullshit is okay to say to someone? Especially not the person trying to save your home from a fire.”

Meis places his hand over Gueira’s. He strokes the back of Gueira’s hand with his thumb. “I wanted to punch him _so_ bad.”

“Honestly, if I hadn’t been so far away, I’d have punched him,” Gueira says.

“I didn’t think it would be a good look for a firefighter to punch someone. Even if he was being the world’s biggest asshole.”

“I’d still have done it. I’m proud of you for keeping it together.”

“Thanks. I love you.”

Gueira beams. “I love you, too. Ready to go home?”

“Yeah.”

“I feel like tonight is a movie and cuddles kind of night.”

“I knew there was a reason I married you, Gueira.”

“That, and my amazing sexual prowess.”

Meis snorts. “Yeah, that too.”

~...~

They spend the evening watching Jaws and lazily making out on the couch. Turnip curls up near their feet and complains loudly whenever they haven’t given him attention in the last ten minutes. When Gueira eventually drags Meis to bed, they curl up together, too tired for sex. Wrapped in the warmth of Gueira’s arms, and with Turnip purring away somewhere behind them, Meis hardly even remembers what he was upset about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I don't write at least one scene of a cat being rescued from a tree, then what was the point of all this?
> 
> Come hang [on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet)


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They get married for the second time after Meis and Gueira been with Burning Rescue for a few months. Meis doesn’t have any more scar-related incidents, and he’s almost used to the feeling of having it on display for the world to see. He’s still nervous, but nowhere near as much as he used to be. Life is good. 
> 
> Again, it’s Lio that brings up the subject of marriage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE SECOND WEDDING IS COMING!! I was very excited to write a "proper" wedding for these two, and it's not far away folks!!

They get married for the second time after Meis and Gueira been with Burning Rescue for a few months. Meis doesn’t have any more scar-related incidents, and he’s almost used to the feeling of having it on display for the world to see. He’s still nervous, but nowhere near as much as he used to be. Life is good. 

Again, it’s Lio that brings up the subject of marriage.

Lio likes to hang out with the Burnish kids at the local community centre, and Meis and Gueira will often tag along. Their powers might be gone, but the kids love getting to hang out with the fabled leaders of Mad Burnish.

This time, Lio has brought Galo with them. Currently, he and Gueira each have a kid on their shoulders, and they’re racing around the room like idiots. It’s hard to tell who’s giggling harder — Galo and Gueira, or the kids. Meis and Lio are sitting back to watch the chaos unfold before them.

“So,” Lio begins, “we’re all functional members of society now. We’ve even got driver’s licenses.”

“Yeah, I know. I never thought we’d actually get to live like normal people again.” 

“You know," Lio says slowly, "nothing is stopping you and Gueira from getting married now. Legally, I mean.”

“Oh shit,” Meis says. “Yeah. Huh." 

“Let me guess; you hadn’t even thought about it?”

“You got me,” Meis snorts. “I don’t know. I guess I forgot that was a thing people did.”

“Yeah, I don’t think anyone’s going to accept a couple of faded tattoos and a story about a truly magnificent hangover as proof of marriage.”

“Oh god, don’t remind me,” Meis groans. “If I even have to look at a bottle of Everclear again, I think I might just die right on the spot. What’s got you thinking about marriage again?”

Lio just smiles and goes back to watching Galo and Gueira racing around the room with the kids. 

Meis gasps. “Really?”

Lio shrugs. “It’s a long way off, don’t worry. I was just thinking about it. I know everyone thinks Galo is a bit of an idiot, but I’ve never met anyone else like him. He’s so in tune with me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was reading my mind.”

“I don’t think he’s an idiot," Meis says. "Not really. Not when it matters. He’s a bit like Gueira. They’re big, excitable puppies on the outside, but there’s lots going on underneath. You just have to know where to look.”

Lio hums in agreement, and they spend a couple of minutes watching Galo and Gueira. They've both got a kid hanging off each leg, and Galo has one on each arm too. Meis can’t help himself, he has to take a few photos. They might come in handy for blackmail material later. 

“So," Lio continues. "Marriage. I was thinking about becoming a celebrant. I’ve had a few Burnish ask me if I would marry them, but I wanted to ask you guys first.”

“What, if we’d want you to marry us?” Meis asks.

“Yeah. I just felt that if I was going to marry anyone, you two deserved to be first.”

“Aw, boss, everyone thinks you’re this big, scary Burnish, but you’re actually just a cute little marshmallow,” Meis teases.

Lio bristles. “I am not a marshmallow! I am not _cute_!”

“Yeah, you totally are. But yes, I’ll talk to Gueira about it. I’m pretty sure he’d love it if you could marry us. Thank you, Lio, really. It would mean the world.”

Lio smiles. He looks away to make eye contact with Galo, who carefully waves so as not to dislodge the small child still hanging from his arm. Lio waves back and sighs dreamily. “I might get you guys to repay the favour someday. I’ll let you two fight over the honour.”

"Right, because you'd want to let Gueira be your celebrant." 

"Not a chance in hell. Do I look like someone who wants their celebrant to make jokes about how often he's run into the happy couple having sex on the couch? You better win that fight." 

"I'll see what I can do." 

~...~

“So, what were you and Lio talking about? I can tell it was something important; you’ve got your ‘thinking about things’ face on.” Gueira ambushes Meis the moment they get back to the apartment. Lio has dragged Galo off to get pizza, giving them a bit of time to talk.

“You never miss anything, do you?”

“Not when it comes to the love of my life.” Gueira flops onto the couch and makes grabby hands at Meis. “Come here, I want to cuddle.”

There isn’t enough room for them to lie side-by-side, so Meis just climbs on top of Gueira and flops down there.

“That’s fine, I didn’t need to breathe anyway.” Gueira’s voice is slightly strained.

“That's fine, I’ll just—”

Gueira latches on tightly with all of his limbs. “No! Stay here!”

Meis chuckles and nuzzles into Gueira’s chest. “If you insist.”

“Don’t even pretend that this is an inconvenience.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Anyway, I was actually going to talk to you about something. Lio said that he was thinking about becoming a celebrant.”

“For weddings?” Gueira asks.

“Yeah.”

“That’s dope!”

“And he wanted to know whether we’d want him to marry us. Like, legally, this time.”

“Oh,” Gueira breathes.

“Yeah. I said I’d talk to you about it.”

“Do you want to get married again? Like, properly?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Meis says. “I mean, I’d still consider you my husband even if we never got legally married. But it would be nice to have a proper record of it. Like, if you ever ended up in the hospital, they wouldn’t be able to keep me from seeing you because we aren't related. Or for taxes. Or something. There have to be other reasons to get married.”

“I’ll marry you again, properly this time, on one condition,” Gueira says.

“What’s that?”

“No Everclear.”

Meis bursts out laughing. “I think that shit might actually kill us now. We are definitely not going anywhere near it.”

“And I want a snake.”

“You’re still not getting a snake. We’ve got Turnip, we don’t need anything else.”

Gueira sighs dramatically. “Fine, yes, okay. No snakes.”

“Okay. Well. I guess we have another wedding to plan. A wedding free from Everclear and snakes.”

Gueira strokes his hand through Meis’ hair as they talk. “I still don’t really want anything big. I’d be happy with just you and the boss, to be honest. And Galo, since he’s practically Lio’s shadow, now.”

“Yeah, that would be nice," Meis says. "Maybe we should do something a bit nicer, though." 

"What do you mean?"

"I feel like most people are excited to have a big wedding and show off how much they love their partner. Are we... are we just getting boring?" 

“I don’t think so. I feel kind of weird about standing up in front of a bunch of people and talking about all my favourite things about you.”

Meis nods. “Yeah. I don’t think I want a whole room of people to watch me kiss you. That’s just a bit... weird.”

“Okay, so no walking down the aisle?”

“Definitely not,” Meis agrees.

“And it’s not like we’ve got any family to invite.”

“Fuck, I think I would pay people to keep my family away from my wedding to another man,” Meis groans. 

“Do you think our families figured out who we are, now?” Gueira asks. “Like, I cut my family out of my life way before I became Burnish. Sometimes I wonder if they ever made the connection. They must have seen stuff about Mad Burnish on the news. I wonder if they ever figured out that I transitioned.”

“Huh. Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess it’d have been easier for my family to figure out what happened to me. I don’t know about yours, though. I don’t know what you looked like before you transitioned. You might look entirely different now.”

“Is it bad that I don’t actually want to reach out to them, even now?” Gueira asks quietly.

“No, I don’t think so,” Meis assures him. “You knew them best, and if you don’t want to expose yourself to their bullshit again, that’s entirely your call.” 

Gueira sighs. “Yeah, I don’t know. I just think about it sometimes.”

“I mean, even if they were terrible, they were your family. You spent, what, sixteen years with them? That’s a long time to have someone in your life. You’re bound to think about them from time to time.”

“Meis, you should quit being a firefighter and become a therapist. I’d pay for you to counsel me.”

“Would you want me to wear a skimpy outfit for our therapy sessions? Are sexy therapists a thing?”

“I knew there was a reason I married you. Get up here and kiss me.”

Meis happily leans up to accept a kiss from Gueira. They’re still making out when Lio and Galo come back with pizza.

“At least they’re still clothed,” Lio says to Galo.

Meis flips him off without removing his lips from Gueira’s.

~...~

They spend the next few weeks deciding what they want their wedding to look like. Neither of them has any particular preference, and they’re in no rush, so it’s pretty slow going. It isn’t until Meis is wandering through town one day, idly taking in the bars running along the street, that he realises he knows _exactly_ what he wants. He abandons whatever errand he was supposed to be running, and heads straight back to their apartment.

Meis bursts into the living room. Galo and Gueira jump where they’re sitting on the couch, but Lio isn’t fazed. He just looks up at Meis from where he’s organising paperwork at the dining table.

“The bar!” Meis practically shouts.

“The bar?” Lio asks calmly.

“The bar! The one where Gueira and I met! That’s where we should get married!”

Gueira gasps loudly. “Babe, you’re a fucking genius! Fuck, that’s such a good idea!”

“We could road trip down there and do some sightseeing along the way," Meis says.

Lio hums. “We could do that. It'd mean I'd finally get a chance to see Florida." 

“I still can’t believe you’ve never been to Florida,” Gueira groans. “Boss, you are missing out.”

“On what? Fighting alligators?”

“Okay, enough, we aren’t starting this argument again,” Meis interrupts.

“What argu—” Galo is very quickly cut off.

“Anyway! Wedding ideas!” Meis says loudly.

Meis doesn’t miss the way that Lio and Gueira glare at each other before Gueira responds. “We could have the ceremony at the bar and then stay in that motel in Orlando on the way back.”

“Is that too lame? Just going places we’ve already been?” Meis asks. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea, but are we just taking the easy route?”

“I think it’s kind of sweet,” Lio says. “You're coming back to see places that mean something to you.”

“And road trips are fun!” Galo pipes up brightly. “We can take a couple of bikes and cruise along the coast. We’ll have to go when the weather is good, and we’ll need to give Ignis plenty of warning that we’re going to be gone for at least a week.”

“What actually goes into getting married?” Meis asks.

“Well, I’ve already got my celebrant’s license, so you don’t need to worry about that,” Lio explains. “All you’ll need to do is apply for a marriage license and have two witnesses. Galo can be one of them, and we can just grab some random person to be the other.”

“And that’s it?”

“Yeah, pretty much. We need to know the name of the venue, and we’ll also probably want to check they aren’t opposed to us having a casual wedding there. I’m guessing you two won’t want to book out the whole place?”

“I don’t think we need to,” Gueira says. “It’s just going to be the four of us, plus some random witness. It’ll be weird having the whole bar to ourselves.”

“Yeah, quiet bars are weird,” Meis agrees.

“Well, I can give the bar a call and ask if they’d be okay with it. What was the name of it?”

Gueira and Meis stare at each other for a second. When neither of them says anything, Lio groans.

“Are you guys serious? You don’t know the name of the place you met?”

“We were a bit distracted at the time!” Gueira protests.

“You guys talk about that goddamn bar all the fucking time. How have you, in all the years you’ve been together, not wondered what the bar was called?”

“Lio, what was the name of the building we met on?” Galo asks.

Lio opens his mouth and then stops and glares at Galo. “That’s different! We burned a lot of shit! How am I supposed to remember which building it was?”

Galo just shrugs, and Gueira laughs.

“We could probably find it online, right?” Meis asks. “Gueira, do you remember where it was?”

“Why would I remember where it was?”

“You used to _live_ in Miami! I’ve only ever been there once!”

“I didn’t go to every single bar there; it’s a big town!”

Meis groans. “Why are you like this?”

Gueira shrugs and then smirks at him. “Hey, you’re still here. You married me. You’re even talking about marrying me again.”

“I hate you,” Meis says, but he can’t stop himself from smiling fondly.

~...~

Meis and Gueira spend a couple of days desperately trying to remember the name of the bar, to no avail. Meis is contemplating taking a weekend to go and look around Miami himself until Lio comes to the rescue.

“Okay, so, I figured the bar owner would have filed a police report after you guys trashed his bar. And since you’re both pretty distinctive, I figured it would be easy to match you to a physical description. So, I got Lucia to help me do some digging, and I think we found it.” Lio holds his phone out to the maps app, and lo and behold, there it is.

“Danger Danger! Shit, yeah, that’s it!” Gueira says.

“I can’t believe we met in a bar called Danger Danger.”

“Well, danger is my middle name.” Gueira winks. 

“That’s a lie; your middle name is cutie-pie.” Meis reaches over to boop his nose.

Lio groans. “Okay, first, that’s disgusting. Second, when the hell did you two watch Steven Universe?”

“We watched it with some of the kids at the community centre.”

“And then Gueira got invested in it, so we went home and watched the whole thing from start to finish.”

“Hey! Don’t even try to pretend that you weren’t just as invested.”

Meis rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’m not the one that cried when Pearl sang that song about Rose.”

“I don’t know how you _didn’t_ cry during that episode.”

“Gueira, you cry at everything. Just last week you were crying about a dog at the park.”

Gueira’s eyes start welling up again. “It was wearing a little jacket!”

Lio snorts at that. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Anyway, I gave them a call, and they said we were free to come in whenever we wanted. I’ll call back later and give them the specifics when we decide on a day.”

“Well, the date doesn’t matter, so let’s just pick a random day and go with it. We don’t actually have anything to organise, other than leave from work,” Meis points out.

“Are we getting dressed up?” Gueira asks.

Meis shrugs. “I don’t really care, do you?”

“Nah. I don’t want to have to try to keep a suit wrinkle-free on a road trip.”

“We can save getting dressed up real fancy for when you get married, Lio,” Meis teases. “You better believe we’re getting dolled up for that.”

Lio snorts. “Yeah, yeah. You’ve got a while to wait yet.”

“That’s fine, it just gives us plenty of time to prepare.”

Gueira gasps. “Meis! We need to start planning the bachelor party!”

“Guys! I’m not getting married for a while yet, calm down!”

“Gueira, you’re right. I can’t believe we haven’t started yet.”

“You guys! Cut it out!”

~...~

They apply for leave, finalise a day with the bar, apply for their marriage license, and organise for Aina to look after Turnip while they’re away. Gueira had asked if they could bring him along, but Meis made sure to nip that right in the bud.

All they have to do now is wait. Their wedding date is about two months away, and it ends up feeling like the longest two months of Meis’ life. As far as he's concerned, Gueira is already his husband, so it's not as though this is going to change much. It’s just nice to know that no one will be able to dispute their marriage after this. Plus, he’s excited about the opportunity to go back to the place where it all began.

Really, Meis owes everything to that bar. If he hadn’t decided to take a break and get a drink when he did, he might have gone right past Gueira without even realising it. Meis doesn’t want to think about what his life might have ended up like without Gueira. Luckily, that’s something he’ll never have to find out.

A few days before they’re due to head down to Florida, Meis has an idea. It comes to him during an enthusiastic round of sex.

Meis is leaning over Gueira as he fucks himself on Meis' cock. Meis keeps himself in place, forcing Gueira to roll his hips up against Meis, pushing Meis' cock deep into his dripping cunt. Gueira rolls his hips with desperation, moaning every time he fills himself with cock. There's a light layer of sweat on his forehead, and his eyes are scrunched tightly closed. Meis would be worried that Gueira wasn't enjoying himself if it weren't for the slight curve at the edge of his mouth. 

“How are you doing, puppy?” Meis asks.

“ _Ah, ah, ah_ ,” Gueira moans, coherent as ever.

“You want to keep fucking yourself on my cock? You wanna keep stuffing yourself full?”

Gueira nods frantically without even opening his eyes. Meis pulls away, earning a truly disappointed whine from his husband. He rolls over to lie on his back and pats his thighs.

“Come here, puppy, I want you to ride me.”

“Fuck yeah, I can do that,” Gueira says, eagerly climbing up onto Meis. He takes a moment to line Meis’ cock up with his pussy, and then he sinks down without hesitation.

Meis moans and wraps his hands around Gueira’s waist, holding him as close as he can. Meis gives a couple of gentle thrusts and urges Gueira to start moving on his cock. Gueira lifts himself slowly, moving until just the head of Meis’ cock stays within his pussy. Then, he sinks down again, just as slowly.

“Gueira, please,” Meis pleads.

“Nope, I’m going to enjoy myself up here,” Gueira says smugly. "This is what you get for making me do all the work." 

Meis keeps a tight grip on Gueira's hips, just holding him as he slides up and down on his cock. Gueira reaches down with one hand to play with his clit, keeping the other one wrapped tightly around Meis’ wrist.

Looking up at Gueira like this makes Meis wish he had a camera on him. Gueira is _gorgeous_ like this. He fucks himself steadily on Meis’ cock, head thrown back in pleasure. Like this, he exposes the beauty of his throat; bruises and bite marks already beginning to appear. His chest heaves with each gasping breath, and Meis wishes he could reach up to play with Gueira’s nipples.

Meis watches as Gueira speeds up, practically bouncing on his cock now. As turned on as Meis is, he takes a moment to think about much he loves the man fucking himself on his cock. There isn’t a person on the planet that could compete with Gueira here. If they weren’t already married and preparing their second marriage, Meis would propose to Gueira on the spot.

A bead of sweat slides down past Gueira’s faded tattoo. Meis takes a moment to admire the faded mark on his husband. The combination of poor linework and fading makes it hard to tell what the tattoo used to be. The last time they touched it up was at their first “wedding”, after all.

Their first wedding. They had done their tattoos in place of getting wedding rings. They could get rings now if they really wanted to, but Meis likes the thought of their tattoos being a symbol of their relationship. And, now that they aren’t wanted criminals anymore, they could go and get them done professionally.

Then, Gueira drops down onto his cock with some serious force, and all thoughts of tattoos are replaced with the desire to fuck Gueira with all the strength he possesses. So, he does. Meis grips Gueira’s hips tightly and thrusts up as he pulls Gueira down onto his cock. Gueira bounces in time with Meis’ thrusts, and soon they set a vigorous pace that makes Gueira moan loudly with each slap of their skin together.

“Come for me, puppy, I want you to come for me,” Meis pants.

Gueira just nods and starts rubbing at his clit as well as he can while he continues to bounce. Not even a minute later, Gueira’s pussy clenches around Meis’ cock, signalling the start of his orgasm. Gueira lets out a high-pitched whine and drops onto Meis’ cock one final time. Meis grinds into him, enjoying the way that Gueira tightens and clenches around him as he comes, still rubbing his clit furiously. 

“Come in me, baby. I wanna feel you fill me up,” Gueira groans.

And with that, it’s all over for Meis. With a groan and a helpless jerk of his hips, he’s coming too. He rolls his hips against Gueira, his fingers digging into Gueira’s hips with enough force that they’ll surely bruise. Gueira tightens up around his cock to really milk his orgasm, and Meis is helpless but to lie back and ride out the waves of pleasure that roll over him. He drops his head onto the bed and goes completely boneless, letting his hands slide off Gueira’s legs.

Gueira lifts himself off Meis’ cock before dropping back down onto the bed. Meis wraps his arms around him and laughs breathlessly.

“I come on command now, apparently.”

“Too bad that’s the only command you listen to," Gueira grumbles against Meis’ chest. "I’d kill for you to listen when I tell you to stop leaving the toilet seat up."

Meis rolls his eyes. “Yes, mother.”

“I don’t know about that, but if you wanted to call me ‘mummy’—”

“Oh my god, _stop_ ,” Meis laughs. “You’re a menace.”

“I’m _your_ menace.”

“Yeah, you are.” Meis presses a kiss to Gueira’s unruly hair. “Hey, I was thinking about something.”

‘Hmmm?”

“Our tattoos need a touch-up, and while I’m not opposed to us doing them again, we could go have them done professionally, now.”

“Huh. That’s... actually not a bad idea.”

“You don’t need to sound so surprised,” Meis chuckles. “I’ve been known to have good ideas from time to time.”

“Mmm, yeah, I like it. Can we discuss it more when I haven’t just had a brain-melting orgasm?”

“Of course, puppy.” Meis strokes a hand down Gueira’s back. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Sleep, now.”

“We’re going to be all gross and sticky if we go to sleep like this,” Meis warns.

Gueira just grunts, and Meis is too lazy to get up and clean them off. They can deal with the mess tomorrow. Meis nestles a leg in between Gueira’s and reaches down to pull the blanket over them. He falls asleep to the feeling of Gueira breathing warmly against his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for the wedding y'all, I have literally been sitting on this for months, I'm so excited for everyone to finally get to read it!! 
> 
> Come hang [on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/that_is_yeet)


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